Thursday, February 28, 2008

SMU men’s swimming and diving off to fast start at Conference USA Invitational

By Pegasus News wire

The No. 20 SMU men's swimming and diving team is off to a fast start at the Conference USA Invitational, breaking meet and pool records in both swimming events and earning NCAA `B' cuts in both. The Mustang divers also had strong showings, with freshman Matthew Culbertson taking second in the one-meter board.

The men started out with a big win in the 200 medley relay. Pontus Renholm, Alex Hetland, Brett Denham and Luka Vrtovec swam a very fast 1:26.70, breaking the meet and pool record by two one-hundredths of a second. The time also bettered their season-fastest by almost a full second. The time was good for an NCAA `B' cut and missed the automatic qualifying mark by 18 one-hundredths of a second.

In the one-meter diving event, Culbertson was the top SMU finisher, taking second behind perennial favorite and NCAA silver medalist Magnus Frick of Hawai'i. Culbertson scored 337.30, which is an NCAA qualifying mark. He trailed Frick by just over 25 points. Landon Owen finished eighth, after qualifying for the finals by out-scoring Matt Larson of East Carolina. Owen tallied 192.65 for his six dives.

Book-ending the first night of competition was the 800 free relay. Again, the Mustangs shattered the meet and pool records. Nate Clark, Vrtovec, Thomas Fadnes and Shane Milu completed the course in 6:28.93, bettering the old meet and pool record (set last year by SMU) by over five seconds. It was also a season-best time by over five seconds and just over two seconds slower than the SMU record.

"We swam really well tonight," said head coach Eddie Sinnott. "We're off to a good start. We feel pretty confident that both relay times will make the NCAA cut. We're hoping to qualify all five relays, so this is a good start. Matt [Culbertson] dove very well tonight and Landon [Owen] made the top eight. The divers did their job and the swimmers did theirs. We just hope to keep it rolling. So far, the meet is going in the right direction."

SMU is in first place after the first day of competition, tallying 108 points. Hawai'i and East Carolina are tied for second with 104 and Cal State Bakersfield is last with 44.

The Mustangs are back in action starting tomorrow morning. Prelims begin at 10am in the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free, followed by finals at 6pm in those events, plus the 400 medley relay. The complete schedule of events and live results can be found on the Conference USA Championship Central page here.

Source: SMU

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