TCU men’s swimming falls to #24 SMU

by PegNews wire

SMU's take

The SMU men's swimming and diving team beat crosstown rival TCU Friday night, 143-101, moving to 5-1 on the season. The Mustangs won nine of the 13 events.

The Ponies kicked off the evening by winning the 50 back event, with Pontus Renholm clocking in at 22.90. SMU also took fourth in that event with Colton Ingraham touching the wall in 25.48. The Mustangs finished one-two in the 50 breast, with Grega Plevelj finishing in 26.14 and Mitchell Johnson coming in at 27.24. Jerr Merritt added a point for the Ponies when he came in fifth at 27.85. In the 50 fly, SMU took the top three spots with Alex Hetland touching in first in 22.41, Luka Vrtovec coming in second at 23.17 and Brett Denham finishing third in 23.30.

The Horned Frogs picked up their first win in the 400 IM, but Mustang Nate Clark finished second, stopping the clock at 4:08.76. John Huddleston finished third for SMU, touching in at 4:09.75. SMU packed a one-two punch in the 150 free, with Shane Milu taking top honors, completing the course in 1:13.01 and Thomas Fadnes coming in just behind him at 1:13.70. Chris Ginder placed second in the 1650 free, stopping the clock at 16:29.40, while Tim Raschle picked up a fourth-place finish in 17:36.56.

In the first diving break, the Mustangs rocked the Frogs, taking first and second places. Freshman Matthew Culbertson won the one-meter board, tallying a score of 331.70. Preston Holcombe took second with his score of 311.17. Landon Owen added another point for the Mustangs as he finished fifth with a score of 233.40.

Denham won the 150 fly for SMU, clocking a time of 1:22.25. Clark took fourth in the event, touching in at 1:24.59. In the 100 free, Vrtovec stopped the clock at 46.40, good for first in the event. Greg Doughty finished third in 47.70 and Travis Callaghan finished sixth in 48.85. Renholm won the 150 back, touching in at 1:18.50, while Ingraham took fourth in 1:24.56 and George Mayer placed fifth in 1:31.69. The Mustangs won second, third and fifth in the 150 breast. Johnson finished second in 1:32.26, Plevelj finished third in 1:32.93 and Merritt took fifth in 1:37.34.

On the three-meter board, Holcombe placed second for SMU, amassing a score of 330.07. Culbertson took third with a score of 310.04 and Owen picked up fifth with 253.42.

The Mustang 200 free relays took first and fourth in the final event of the evening. The squad of Hetland, Denham, Milu and Jani Brackett finished first in 1:24.86, while Callaghan, Lysle Witter, Mayer and Huddleston took fourth in 1:29.78. The "C" squad of Fadnes, Doughty, Renholm and Vrtovec completed the course in 1:23.28, but the time went down as an exhibition.

"This was a great meet and I'm happy we were able to renew our competition with TCU," said head coach Eddie Sinnott. "Certainly the highlight was seeing four seniors win the last relay. We were able to use the unorthodox race distances to work on some different aspects of our races."

The Mustangs are back in action next Friday, Feb. 1, as the No. 22 Mustangs play host to No. 18 Texas A&M at the Perkins Natatorium at 7pm.

TCU's take

The TCU men's swimming and diving team fell on Friday night to No. 24 SMU by a score of 143-101 at the University Recreation Center. The loss dropped the Horned Frogs to 6-4 overall this season, while the Mustangs improved to 5-1 on the season.

"I thought we competed well tonight against a nationally ranked team," said TCU head coach Richard Sybesma. "Cameron Allred, Ben Biefnes and Trevor Woods are three guys that are really swimming well right now. I think we'll be really good once we get healthy and we'll be ready for the Mountain West Conference Championships."

Allred, a senior from Fort Worth, won the 150-breast event with a time of 1:31.68 in his last home meet at TCU. Allred also swam to a third-place showing in the 50-breast with a time of 27.26.

Biefnes continued his successful second half of the season by winning the 400-IM event in a time of 4:05.31, which was over three seconds faster than the next closest competitor. The win was Biefnes' third in the last three meets of the spring season.

Woods, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., also recorded a dominating performance, winning the 1650-free by over seven seconds with a time of 16:22.28. The time bettered the previous season-high by over 11 seconds.

In the backstroke events, senior Jonathon Berrettini placed second in the 50-back with a time of 23.31, followed by freshman Jeff Gettel in third with a clocking of 24.66. In the 150-back, Gettel swam to a runner-up finish with a time of 1:20.76, while Berrettini placed third with a time of 1:23.20.

Josh Bagby swam well in the freestyle events on Friday, placing second in the 100-free (46.81) and third in the 150-free (1:14.94).

Edgar Peyro and Jason Hauck had a strong showing in the 150-fly, as Peyro grabbed the runner-up spot with a time of 1:23.32, while Hauck followed in third in a time of 1:24.38.

R.J. Hesselberg won his 11th event of the season by earning a score of 345.22 in the three-meter dive. Hesselberg also placed third in the one-meter diving event with a score of 309.52, while freshman Kyle Callens finished fourth in both events.

The men will have over a month before competing at the MWC Championships beginning on Feb. 27 in Oklahoma City, Okla. The TCU women's team will host New Mexico on Saturday at 12 p.m. at the University Recreation Center where the seniors will be recognized.

Source: TCU