Thursday, February 7, 2008

Women’s swimming and diving: UNT 161, TCU 139

By Pegasus News wire

UNT's take

TCU vs. North Texas swimming; it’s been a series that TCU has dominated for the last ten seasons. The Mean Green set out to end that Wednesday night as they took on the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth.

North Texas picked up a 161-139 dual-meet victory over TCU to record the Mean Green’s first ever head-to-head win over the Horned Frogs. North Texas was 0-16 against the TCU prior to Wednesday night.

Six different Mean Green swimmers won at least one individual race for North Texas. Head coach Joe Dykstra knew that his team needed nearly every single point to be able to pull off the victory.

“I challenged the girls before the meet began,” Dykstra said. “I told them that we needed to have the best top-to-bottom team performance in school history to come away with a win. Everyone needed to do their job and that’s exactly what happened.”

One swimmer Dykstra called on to help the Mean Green record valuable points was Emily Floyd. Floyd, a sophomore from Sugarland, answered Dykstra’s challenge with a school record and personal best time of 10:22.74; over six seconds faster than the previous school record set by Alicia Hale less than a month ago. The time was nearly 12 seconds faster than Floyd’s previous personal best and ranks third fastest in the Sun Belt so far this season.

Taryne Cantillo continued to impress in her first season at North Texas. Cantillo, a junior transfer from Georgetown, Texas, broke her own school record in the 200 butterfly that she had set earlier in the season. She finished second in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:07.95; behind only Stephanie Futscher, a 2007 All-Mountain West selection. Cantillo also took home silver in the 100 fly.

Hannah Bakke, Bonnie Garcia-Meitin and Alicia Hale all picked up two first place individual finishes in their respective events. Bakke won gold in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke while Garcia-Meitin earned the top spot in the 100 and 200 back. Hale, a sophomore from Schertz, Texas, placed first in the 100 free and 500 freestyle. Overall, North Texas took home first place honors in 11 of the 14 swimming events.

The Mean Green will be back in action this weekend as North Texas wrap up its regular season against New Orleans. The swim-only meet is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the Pohl Recreation Center.

TCU's take

The TCU women's swimming and diving team fell by a score of 161-139 to North Texas on Wednesday night at the University Recreation Center. The Horned Frogs completed their last meet before the Mountain West Conference Championships.

"We were a little off tonight and we're working out the kinks before the conference championships, which are exactly three weeks from today," said TCU head coach Richard Sybesma. "I have to tip my hat to North Texas, who did a great job tonight."

Stephanie Futscher highlighted the meet for the Frogs, sweeping the butterfly events. Futscher, a sophomore from Irving, Texas, won the 200-fly event in a time of 2:04.46, and followed with a time of 58.93 in the 100-fly to earn the victory.

"One of the positives tonight was having Stephanie back from injury," Sybesma said. "It's obvious that she is a big factor for the team."

TCU's other event winner in the pool on Wednesday was Cheryl Townsend, who earned her sixth win of the season with a time of 4:34.91 in the 400-IM.

Sophomore diver Jennifer Ferguson continued to impress after missing most of the season due to injury, as the Beaconfield, Quebec, native swept the diving events. In the one-meter, Ferguson notched a score of 259.28, while Hannah Hale followed in second with a score of 213.83. Ferguson won her third event in the last two meets with a score of 245.93 in the three-meter, while Hale placed third with a score of 200.55.

Other impressive performances came from Maria Alvarez, Meredith Grubb and Brittney Martinez. Alvarez posted two runner-up finishes in the 500- and 1000-free events, while Grubb recorded two top-three finishes in the 100- and 200-free and Martinez finished in the top-three in the backstroke events.

In relay action, the 400-medley team of Martinez, Ellie Bradley, Mychala Lynch and Grubb raced to a second-place finish in a time of 3:56.70, while the team of Alvarez, Lynch, Nikki Pappas and Martinez was TCU's top finisher in the 400-free relay, placing second in a time of 3:36.85.

Both the men's and women's teams will end the season at the MWC Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Feb. 27 - March 1.

Sources: UNT and TCU

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