Swimmers Look To Make Wakes In Houston
Oct 26 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 26, 2006
DALLAS (SMU) - The No. 8 SMU women's swimming and diving team is on the road to Houston this weekend where they will go head-to-head with Rice on Friday night and then compete against Houston and Oregon on Saturday.
The Mustangs are coming off an eight point margin of victory last weekend in SMU's annual Swim Classic where they faced Alabama, No. 14 Florida St., LSU, Virginia Tech and No. 13 Wisconsin.
On Friday night at 6:00 p.m., the Mustangs will swim against Conference USA opponent Rice and then at 10:30 a.m., Saturday morning, SMU will swim against Houston, also C-USA, and No. 25 (in CSCAA poll) Oregon St. Last year, the Mustangs topped Houston for the, 157-82, win, claiming 10 of the 13 events. SMU swept all 11 events last year to float over Rice for a win, 135.5-69.5.
"We are really excited about this season," said Collins. "We have a great group that is returning from last year's team. We were very pleased to win the conference and be in the top-10 at NCAA's with a seventh-place finish, which is one of our highest finishes."
The team is under the senior leadership of captain and three-year All-American, Leane Darling, along with fellow senior and two-year All-American, Celina Lemmen. The duo brings veteran leadership to an already experienced squad. The Mustangs returned nine All-Americans in Jenny Basel, Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Anja Carman, Darling, Petra Klosova, Lemmen, Katie Roberts and Michelle Vlasakova. Including the returning All-Americans, 15 total letterwinners return from last year's squad and add five newcomers into the mix, bringing SMU depth and talent. The senior class consists of Anastasia Cantonis, Darling, Lemmen, Mara Morhouse, Tiffany Sammis, Kristin Schild and Vlasakova.
Collins has again brought in a talented freshman class in Devon Callaghan, Justine Clark, Katie Fritsch, Angela San Juan Cisneros and Jaime Williamson. The fad five have the potential to make an immediate impact.
"This year's team has great potential," Collins said. "We have five new athletes that are joining the team this year and will have the opportunity to compete and contribute at the national level. We believe this is going to be another great year for us and we're optimistic about what this team can do."
Meet Schedule400 Medley Relay1,000 Freestyle200 Freestyle100 Backstroke100 Breaststroke200 Butterfly50 Freestyle(intermission)100 Freestyle200 Backstroke200 Breaststroke500 Freestyle100 Butterfly(second intermission)400 Individual Medley200 Freestyle Relay
