Mustangs Defeat No. 11 Aggies 132-105
Nov 9 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The SMU Men's Swimming & Diving team scored its first victory of the 1999-2000 season with a 132-105 win over the No. 11 Aggies Tuesday at Perkins Natatorium.
After finishing 32nd at the 1999 NCAA Championships, the Mustangs feel they have the talent and experience to return to the top level.
"This win is real important for us to re-establish ourselves back into the top 10," Head Coach Eddie Sinnott said. "This group now knows it can beat top-10 teams from last year's NCAA meet."
Sophomore Mahmoud Elwany opened the meet by anchoring the 400-medley relay team to victory. His final 50 yards closed the 1.29 deficit he had going into the water and brought SMU home in 3:25.23 - just .12 seconds ahead of the Aggies.
"Medo's (Elwany) anchor in the 200 free relay set the tone for the rest of the meet," Sinnott said. "We expected to lose that relay because he was behind going into his leg."
SMU won three of the next four events to take a commanding 57-36 lead into the one-meter diving competition. Steve Barnes (9:29.40) and Michael Jacobsson (9:33.81) finished one-two for SMU in the 1,000 free, Matt Weghorst (20.70) won the 50 free and Bart Wickard (1:53.22) and Tim Carlson (1:53.66) doubled up in the 200 IM.
Texas A&M closed the gap following the one-meter board and trailed 85-81 after sweeping the 200 back. But the Mustangs stampeded to a 101-84 lead with a sweep of the 500 free behind Barnes (4:37.92), Chris Epp (4:41.54) and Jon Hemphill (4:41.88). Then freshman Josh Kittrel beats Jacobbson from lane six in the 200 breast with a time of 2:06.45 to seal the SMU victory.
"Kittrel's win in the 200 breast from the outside lane put us over the top where we didn't have to win the relay to win the meet," Sinnott said. "This was a great team meet. We won some events that we weren't expecting - we had a lot of different guys step up tonight and show that they can compete and win at this level."
The Mustangs lone diver, freshman Brice Dumais finished second in both the one- and three-meter springboard, scoring 277.27 and 310.20 respectively. Competing against two Texas A&M divers, Dumais fought through first-meet nerves.
"Brice had no clue about the intensity of a meet at the collegiate level," Diving Coach Jim Stillson said, "but he has the tools to be as good as anyone in the country once he figures out how to use them."
