Swimming And Diving Gets Set For 2009-10 Season
Oct 8 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 8, 2009
DALLAS (SMU) - The Mustang swimming and diving teams are ready to embark on their quest for a 14th-straight Conference USA Championship in 2009.
Each team has a strong contingency of returners from last year's conference championship teams. On the men's side, 17 swimmers and divers return to the Hilltop, led by All-Americans Greg Doughty, Thomas Fadness and Pontus Renholm. Fadness and Renholm also earned SMU Most Valuable Swimmer awards for their efforts in 2008.
Fadness set a conference record on his way to winning the 100-free at last year's conference meet, while Renholm posted a record-setting performance in the 200-back. One of the strongest areas of the program last season was the relay team, which will have to replace Gregra Plevelj and Luka Vrtovec after the pair graduated last year. Doughty will continue to swim with the relay teams after an All-American performance with the 200-free relay team in 2008.
Matthew Culbertson and Richard Cornelius are strong anchors on a very talented diving team. Culbertson won the one-meter and three-meter springboard events at last year's championships, as well as the platform event, while Cornelius finished fourth in the platform final.
Edward Downes is also expected to make a positive impact after his strong performance in 2008. The SMU Newcomer of the Year last season was named C-USA Invitational Swimmer of the Meet after winning five events, including the 200-individual relay.
Downes will captain the team, along with Nate Clark, who holds the C-USA meet record in the 500-free.
On the women's side, SMU returns 20 athletes, including five of eight from their impressive, record-setting relay teams. Devon Callaghan, Christy-Leigh Lategan, C-USA Freshman of the Year Therese Svendsen, Sascha Van den Branden and Elzanne Werth were all members of first place relay teams at the 2008 C-USA Championships.
Callaghan and Justine Clark took second and third last season in the 200-IM at the C-USA Championships, finishing behind former Mustang Jennifer Basel. Maroua Mathlouthi and Raminta Dvariskyte were also top-performers in individual races in 2008, earning medals at the C-USA Championships.
The women's program also has a strong pair of divers returning for the 2009 season. Audra Egenolf and Britney Yancey both finished in the top-five on the one-meter springboard at the 2008 conference meet. Both divers qualified for the NCAA Championships on the three-meter springboard, and Egenolf qualified on the platform, while Yancey also qualified on the one-meter board.
Both the men's and women's teams will open their seasons Friday in Denton, Texas at the Mean Green Relays hosted by the University of North Texas.
