Monday, January 21, 2008

SMU women’s swimming sweeps Rice and Houston

By Pegasus News wire

SMU 123, Rice 75

The No.13 SMU women's swim team took on its first conference opponent of the season, beating Rice 123-75 Friday night at Perkins Natatorium. The match-up was the first of two C-USA meets for the Mustangs this weekend.

The Mustangs won nine of the 11 events, shutting the Owls down. SMU started strong by picking up a win in the first event. The 200 medley relay squad of Anja Carman, Devon Callaghan, Angela San Juan Cisneros and Candace Blackman touched in at 1:44.12.

SMU finished third in the 1000 free, with Federica Felloni clocking a season-best time of 10:33.92. The Mustangs then finished one-two in the 200 free, with Petra Klosova in first (1:51.27) and Callaghan in second (1:54.33). In the 50 free, SMU again finished one-two, this time with C. Blackman taking the top spot with a mark of 23.66 and Jennifer Basel in second with her season-best time of 23.79. Basel then turned around and won the 400 IM outright, finishing the course in 4:23.19. Newcomer Maroua Mathlouthi picked up second in that event, touching in at 4:23.80.

The 100 fly was dominated by SMU as the Mustangs took first through third. San Juan Cisneros clocked in at 56.16, while Elzanne Werth finished second in 56.43 and Justine Clark rounded out the top three in 57.72. Jennifer Blackman won the 100 free, stopping the clock at 51.14, while freshman Gabriela Soza picked up a third-place finish in 54.27. The Mustangs finished one-two in the 100 back with Carman picking up top honors in the event, clocking a time of 56.52 and Klosova just behind in 56.56. SMU again packed a one-two punch in the 500 free, with C. Blackman touching in at 4:53.69 and Mathlouthi touching the wall in second at 4:58.91. In the 100 breast, Callaghan picked up the win, clocking in at 1:04.08.

The final event of the evening was the 200 free relay. SMU clocked a time of 1:36.47 but the time was an exhibition time.

SMU 140, Houston 91

The No. 13 SMU women's swimming and diving team coasted by C-USA rival Houston Saturday at Perkins Natatorium, 140-91, winning 11 of 13 events.

The Mustangs again showed why they are the favorite to win the conference title, as they won the first five swimming events before dropping the one-meter diving competition. The afternoon kicked off for SMU with the 200 medley relay team of Anja Carman, Devon Callaghan, Angela San Juan Cisneros and Petra Klosova winning their event handily, clocking a time of 1:44.49. The Mustangs also took second in that event, as Gabriela Soza, Tamara Sambrailo, Elzanne Werth and Anna Ziverts touched in at 1:48.86.

In the 1000 free, Federica Felloni coasted to an easy win, touching the wall at 10:36.12, over a minute faster than either swimmer from Houston. Jennifer Blackman won the 200 free, stopping the clock at 1:50.05. Callaghan finished third in that event in 1:54.88. The Mustangs finished one-two-three in the 50 free, with Candace Blackman taking top honors in 23.66. Werth was just behind in 23.96 and San Juan Cisneros rounded out the top three, finishing in 24.11. Newcomer Maroua Mathlouthi won the 400 IM, touching the wall at 4:22.94, followed by Jennifer Basel in third (4:25.61) and Jaime Williamson in fourth (4:36.79).

Houston tried to change momentum in the one-meter diving, claiming the top two spots. Courtney Forcucci won the event, tallying 270.45. Cougar Ginni vanKatwijk placed second in 269.69 and Mustang Britney Yancey rounded out the top three in 267.97.

Justine Clark picked up where the Mustangs left off, picking up the win in the 200 fly in 2:07.53. Felloni took third in the event, touching the wall in 2:15.78. The 100 free was won by C. Blackman, who stopped the clock in 51.55. Soza took third in the event, touching in at 54.16, while Ziverts finished fifth in 58.20. SMU packed a one-two punch in the 200 back, with Carman winning in a time of 2:00.94 and Klosova pulling up just behind her in 2:01.17. Mathlouthi dominated the 500 free, finishing the course in 5:01.12, nearly 30 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Pia Lara Carrillo finished third in the event, stopping the clock at 5:38.32.

Yancey reclaimed the top spot on the three-meter board, amassing 311.40 points, beating second-place finisher Lacey Truelove by over 15 points.

Williamson won the 200 breast, clocking in at 2:23.49, while Kaitlyn Gangl finished third in 2:34.73. Houston won the 200 free relay, touching in at 1:40.38. The Mustang squad of Katie Roberts, Clark, Soza and Ziverts stopped the clock at 1:40.88, but their time went down as an exhibition, giving the Cougars first and second-place finishes in the event.

The Mustangs are off for the next few weeks, but return to the pool to host No. 16 Texas at Perkins Natatorium on Feb. 9.

Source: SMU

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