Friday, February 29, 2008

UNT swimming and diving sets records at Sun Belt Championships

By Pegasus News wire

The University of North Texas swimming and diving team opened the Sun Belt Championships in grand fashion, breaking school records in five different events during the opening day of the three-day event.

The Mean Green tallied a school best in all but one of the events that it competed in. Overall, North Texas finds itself in fourth place after Thursday’s events with 160 points; the most ever by a North Texas squad during the opening day of the SBC Swimming Championships.

“Last year we struggled during the first day of the conference championships. We also struggled during the first day at the Las Vegas Invitational earlier this season, so it was important for us to get off to a good start today,” said head swimming and diving coach Joe Dykstra. “It was by far the best overall day in North Texas swimming history.”

Emily Floyd opened up the championships with a bang for the Mean Green. Floyd, a sophomore from Sugar Land, Texas, recorded a school record time of 4:56.83 in the 500-yard freestyle during the prelims; nearly 10 seconds faster then her previous personal best. Floyd proceeded to break her own record in the finals with a mark of 4:54.19 to take home the Mean Green’s first medal of the 2008 SBC Championships.

Not to be outdone, Christina Hammervold and Alicia Hale soon showed that they were also capable of posting top marks. Hammervold posted a school record time of 2:07.25 during the prelims of the 200 individual medley, just to later see her record fall when Alicia Hale edged out Hammervold during the finals of the 200 IM. Of the seven individual events she competes in, the 200 IM mark was the only record left unbroken by Hale until Thursday.

North Texas didn’t only shine in individual events. The Mean Green broke school records in both of Thursday’s relay events. The foursome of Hale, Bonnie Garcia-Meitin, Hannah Bakke and Taryne Cantillo took home third in the 400 medley relay with a mark of 3:48.65. Garcia-Meitin’s lead-off leg of 56.74 also set a school record in the 100 backstroke. Later in the day, Garcia-Meitin would take part in her third school record of the day when she teamed with Elizabeth Weiss, Nicki Leslie and Amanda Neal to take home the bronze in the 200 free relay with a school best time of 1:35.29.

In all, the Mean Green picked up seven top-eight finishes on Thursday. Kelly Gordon (500 free), Angie Dworschack (500 free) and Whitney Tyrone (3-meter diving) all notched top-16 finishes to pick up points for North Texas.

“Historically, we’ve gotten better as the championships have go on,” Dykstra said. “We’re in a good position if we can duplicate some of our first day results.”

The second day of the SBC Championships will begin tomorrow morning at the Tracy Caulkins Aquatic Center with the preliminary round of the women's 200-yard backstroke.

Source: UNT

See more stories in:

• Swimming & Diving > College Swimming & Diving