Friday, February 29, 2008

SMU men’s swimming and diving sets more records at Conference USA Invitational

By Pegasus News wire

The No. 20 SMU men's swimming and diving team continued to dominate in day two of the Conference USA Invitational at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston. The Mustangs set three new C-USA meet/pool records, seven career-bests and six NCAA `B' cuts.

Nathan Clark started things off for the Mustangs, winning the 500 free in a C-USA record time of 4:20.99, a mark good for NCAA consideration. The time was also a new career-best for Clark, who bettered the old conference mark by over two and a half seconds. Freshman John Huddleston finished seventh in the event, in 4:37.29.

In the 200 IM, SMU took first and second places, with Alex Hetland swimming a season-fastest 1:47.14, good for NCAA consideration. Maverick Smalley took second in the event, swimming a career-best 1:48.93, an NCAA `B' cut. Mitchell Johnson finished fifth in a career-fastest 1:52.82.

The Mustang men took first through fourth places in the 50 free, with Luka Vrtovec earning top honors. Vrtovec clocked a season-fastest 19.71, setting a new Conference USA meet record, new pool record and earning him NCAA consideration. Shane Milu picked up second place in a career-best 20.11, while Thomas Fadnes touched in just behind him in a career-fastest 20.12. Milu and Fadnes each qualified for NCAA consideration. Pontus Renholm finished third in a career-best 20.29 and freshman Greg Doughty clocked a season-best 20.68 to take sixth place.

SMU finished the evening with a C-USA record-setting run in the 400 medley relay. Renholm, Hetland, Brett Denham and Vrtovec finished the course in 3:12.38, the fastest time of the season by over a second. The squad bettered the old conference mark, set by SMU in 2006, by over three seconds.

"We had an outstanding night tonight," said head coach Eddie Sinnott. "Nate Clark's 500 free is extremely satisfying. Maverick's `B' cut in the 200 IM is awesome for him. He really showed that he's ready to swim on a large stage tonight. The entire team did great in the 50 free. I'm pretty confident that the 400 medley relay will make the NCAA cut, so I think we've got three out of three relays qualified so far, which is a goal of ours. This is where the meet really starts to get tough, though. This is when we start to get fatigued. But everyone really fed off each other tonight. Nate got us started and everyone just caught the buzz. And with the women swimming as well as they did, I think everyone just fed off each other and it was neat to see."

The Mustangs hold the lead in team standings with 337.50. Hawaii is in second with 270, East Carolina is in third with 218.50 and Cal State Bakersfield is fourth with 135.

The meet resumes Friday with prelims at 10am and finals at 6pm. The Mustangs will compete in the 200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, three-meter diving, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back. Live results can be found on the Conference USA Championship Central page here. Complete SMU recap and results can will be available on SMUMustangs.com at the completion of the day's events.

Source: SMU

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