Oct. 4, 2006
DALLAS (SMU) - The Mustangs are getting ready for the season as they have an intrasquad meet this Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Perkins Natatorium and then will host the Swim Classic Oct. 20-21 at 7:30 p.m.
It has been said that consistency is the mark of a winner and with his 21st season on the horizon, SMU head coach Steve Collins looks to prove just that. This past season launched a new era for SMU as they transitioned into Conference USA. At the conference championship, the women's swimming and diving team rewrote the record books, continuing a decade of dominance the squad notched its 11th consecutive conference championship. The Mustangs set 14 Conference USA meet records en route to the title, then went on to place seventh at NCAA, their 15th top-10 finish in Collins' tenure. Eleven Mustangs earned All-American status, eight of which will be returning this year.
"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 will be 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 will bring veteran leadership to an already experienced squad. The Mustangs return 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."
Schedule
Another important ingredient to success is the caliber of competition throughout the season. Collins notes that he tries to schedule teams that will challenge the team equivalent to the level of competition at the NCAA.
The season will be highlighted by the 13th-annual SMU Swimming and Diving Classic scheduled for Oct. 20-21 at Perkins Natatorium on campus. The Mustangs will host Florida State, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Alabama and LSU as they look to defend their Classic title. Last season, SMU toppled top-ranked Florida for the sixth overall Classic title in 12 years and posted a 12-point win, which was the second closest margin of victory in Classic history.
"At our Women's Swim Classic, we have five excellent teams coming in," Collins said. "They are new teams, but all are national programs and schools that people will recognize as strong athletic departments. It's going to be great competition."
SMU will participate in five multi-team meets in 2006-07. The Ponies will head to Texas A&M for the Aggie Invitational and then will compete in a new meet this year with the Kerr Mc Gee Invitational, one which Collins believes they will face some stiff competition. SMU will also take-on Texas and Arizona over two days, which Collins said would be similar to an invitational as they will swim events in the format similar to the finals of NCAA's. Last season, Texas finished eighth at NCAA and Arizona rounded out the top three.
"The schedule will prepare us for the conference championship," Collins said, "The Texas and Arizona meet will really be the last time to qualify for NCAA's. So, from that stand point, it is a very, very important meet to us before the C-USA Championships."
The Mustangs will host two dual meets this season, Georgia and Texas A&M coming to Perkins Natatorium.
"It's great that we are hosting Georgia, a team that is a perennial contender for the national championship and a team that finished second last year at NCAA's," Collins stated. "That is going to be a good test for us. We are also hosting Texas A&M which is a team that has been just outside the top-10 at the NCAA's and has been improving every year. The Aggies are one of the top teams in the Big 12, so that is going to be a tough meet."
SMU made its mark in Conference USA and enters the second season with much anticipation. The C-USA Championships are slated for Feb. 14-17 in Houston, Texas, while the NCAA Championships will be in Minneapolis, Minn., March 8-10.
"We look forward to defending our conference title," Collins said. "Teams in Conference USA recognize that SMU is a leader in women's swimming. We are certainly going to be tested even more this year, because we won the title last year."
Freestyle
One stroke that has been consistently strong for the Mustangs is freestyle. Last season, this stroke proved to be a solid producer for SMU in individual and relay events.
"One of the things that has been key to our program is having a great group of freestylers year in, year out," said Collins. He also noted that with the strength of swimmers in the individual freestyle events, the swimmers will also contribute greatly in the freestyle relays and will be very important to the team.
The freestyle line-up will be led by the trio of Candace Blackman, Katie Roberts and Anja Carman. C. Blackman leads in the sprint free, as she notched the C-USA title in the 200 free, received honorable mention All-American status in the 50 and posted the team's fastest time in the 200 free. Roberts competes in middle distance free, as she, too, received honorable mention All-American status in the 500 free and posted the team best time in the 500 free. Carman completes the triple threat as she placed seventh in the 1650 free last season at NCAA's, earning All-American status and marked the fastest time on the team in the same event. Carman also took second place in the 1650 free at C-USA Championships behind former Mustang stand-out, Flavia Rigamonti. The Mustangs are also returning many freestyle relay All-American athletes.
Adding solid depth to the freestyle events is Petra Klosova who was the recipient of the Freshman of the Year honors in the conference last season and posted the fastest time in 100 free for the Mustangs. Klosova also took second in the 50 free at C-USA Championships and first in the 100 free. She was also a consolation finalist in the 100 free. Collins looks for her to perform well and be an important leader in the freestyle category. Leane Darling also is in the line-up as she posted the fastest time in the 50 free for the Mustangs and contributes greatly on the relay teams. Additionally, SMU will gain help from Celina Lemmen, a two-year All-American and consolation finalist in 100 free last year, Michelle Vlasakova, an All-American in the 200 free relay, Jennifer Blackman, Federica Felloni and Tiffany Sammis as each will contribute in freestyle individual events and relays. Newcomer Angela San Juan Cisneros will also be a factor in the freestyle stroke and will have an elite group of swimmers to gain experience from.
"This group is very talented and has the ability to do some great things at NCAA's and throughout the season," states Collins.
Breaststroke
Tamara Sambrailo and Jenny Basel will both lead the way in the breaststroke events as the duo took first and second place honors at the C-USA Championship in the 100 breast and second and third place honors in the 200 breast. The tandem posted the team's top times in both the events and swam in both at NCAA's.
"We are excited to have both of them back," Collins said. "They continue to improve from the experience they have, we are going to be a much stronger team."
The freshmen duo of Jaime Williamson and Devon Callaghan are coming in with reliable credentials as both have posted qualifying times for the Olympic Trials and Collins believes they are capable of contributing at the NCAA Championships.
"We have outstanding individuals in the breaststroke," Collins said. "When I think of them on a day-to-day basis and all of them being able to compete in practice, it will only make all of them even stronger."
Butterfly
Leane Darling and Petra Klosova will be headlining the butterfly event as they are the top two returning flyers from last year. Klosova was C-USA Champion in the 100 butterfly as Darling came in fourth and both qualified for NCAA competition. Candace Blackman and Federica Felloni will also contribute to the team in butterfly events.
"This season we have two new swimmers (Justine Clark and Angela San Juan Cisneros) joining the team that have excellent experience internationally," said Collins. Both Clark and San Juan Cisneros are expected to come in and help the Mustangs be even more competitive in butterfly events.
"Justine is going to make a great transition to college swimming," Collins said. "She has the potential to be a leader at the conference and NCAA level in both the 100 and 200 fly. Angela has extensive international experience in the sprint free and sprint fly. She will be counted on to bring that ability to help our team this season in all the butterfly events.
Backstroke
Anja Carman is the top returning swimmer in backstroke as she posted the team's best time last year in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Carman will look to defend her C-USA title in the 200 backstroke and will be counted on in the individual events as well as performing the stroke in the medley relays. Adding another threat in the backstroke event will be Leane Darling and Petra Klosova, who usually performs in the freestyle and butterfly events, but made great strides over the summer working on the backstroke. She diversified her strokes competing this summer at the European Championship in the 50 and 100 back. Katie Fritsch also adds depth for the Mustangs in the backstroke events.
Individual Medley
The individual medley may be the Mustangs' most improved event as they continue to add depth. Jenny Basel, Tamara Sambrailo and Anja Carman all posted key performances last season as the trio holds the top times in the events and qualified for NCAA. Basel will look to defend her C-USA Champion title in the 200 IM. The addition of freshmen Jaime Williamson and Devon Callaghan to the IM event will also add variety for the Mustangs.
Relays
Relays have proved to be very important and successful in previous years for the Mustangs and will continue to be this season. In 2005-06, the Mustangs won all the freestyle relays at the C-USA Championship and then went on to NCAA to record a fourth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, breaking the SMU all-time record with a time of 3:17.13. SMU also won both the 400 and 800 freestyle relays at US Nationals.
"We recognize that relays are important and this year, they are definitely one of the strongest areas on our team," Collins said.
The medley relays will be another solid contender for the Mustangs as Collins believes there is great competition in all four strokes.
"We are not only looking to defend our title as conference champion in the 200 and 400 medley relays," Collins said, "but would like to see our team improve at NCAA level. We hope that both relays reach the finals at NCAA. "
Diving
Senior Kristin Schild led the Mustangs last season off the diving boards and has made steady progress her three years here at SMU according to head diving coach Jim Stillson.
"She has greatly improved every year," Stillson said, "and she had a great summer of training this summer. Our goal for her this year is to make it to NCAA's and score some points for us this year. Last year, she did a great job at our conference meet and we expect her to do even better this year."
Mara Morhouse also returns to the diving team as she made tremendous improvement last year. She fought a foot injury on and off last year but Stillson believes she is has improved and has the potential to be a big help at the conference level.
Plagued with injuries, Anastasia Cantonis has had to fight two shoulder surgeries during her college career, limiting her practice and developing time. But Stillson feels she is recovering well and will be much healthier this year to receive a full year of training.
