Mustangs Host Top Competition At SMU Classic

Friday, October 14

Lewisville, Texas

6:30 p.m.

SMU

SMU Classic

Mustangs Host Top Competition At SMU Classic

Oct 12 | Women's Swimming & Diving

SMU Classic
Date	Friday & Saturday // Oct. 14 & 15, 2016
Location	Westside Aquatic Center // Lewisville, Texas
Live Swimming Results	SMUMustangs.com
Live Diving Results	Dive Meets
Event Notes	Click Here
Facebook	SMUSwimDiveW // SMU Mustangs
Twitter	@SMUSwimmingW // @SMUMustangs

The SMU women's swimming and diving team hosts the 23rd annual SMU Classic Friday and Saturday at the Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville, Texas. Opening ceremonies begin at 6:15 each evening, with action starting at 6:30. The Classic features top competition from across the country in Michigan, Louisville, Miami, UCLA and USC. Live results can be found at SMUMustangs.com, and you can also follow the event on the Meet Mobile App by searching "2016 SMU Women's Classic". Diving results can be found at divemeets.com.

FOLLOW THE PONIES
Facebook: /SMUSwimDiveW • Twitter: @SMUSwimmingW • Instagram: /SMUSwimmingW

EVENT FORMAT
The SMU Classic features 8 swimmers and 1 diver from each competing school. Swimmers may swim 3 events per day, one of which must be a relay. Each team will enter 1 swimmer per heat (Consolation & Championship), while relays will only have a Championship heat. Diving events will consist of 6 optional dives on 1m and 3m boards.

REPRESENTING THE MUSTANGS

Backstroke Matea Samardzic // Junior Ursa Bezan // Senior	Breaststroke Tara-Lynn Nicholas // Senior Kirsty McLauchlan // Senior	Diving Brooke Pospichal // Sophomore
Butterfly Marne Erasmus // Senior Erin Trahan // Freshman	Freestyle Vicky Cunningham // Senior Maddie Hoch // Senior

EVENT SCHEDULE

Friday
400 Medley Relay
400 IM
200 Free
50 Free
1 Meter Diving
100 Fly
100 Back
100 Breast
800 Free Relay

Saturday
200 Medley Relay
500 Free
200 Breast
200 Back
3 Meter Diving
100 Free
200 Fly
200 IM
200 Free Relay

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The Mustangs welcome USC, Louisville, Michigan, UCLA and Miami to the 23rd edition of the SMU Classic. All five teams were represented at the 2016 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, with USC (6th), Louisville (8th) and Michigan (10th) all finishing in the top 10. UCLA was 17th at the event, while Miami finished tied with SMU at 40th. Louisville and UCLA were both present at the Classic a season ago, finishing first and tied for second, respectively.

CLASSIC HISTORY
The SMU Classic is hosted annually by the Mustangs and has featured top competition dating back to 1994. The Ponies have won the event seven times, with swimmers taking home 6 high-point awards and divers earning 5.

ALL-AMERICAN ACADEMICS
Three Mustang student-athletes earned College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) individual Scholar All-America honorable mention honors. As an honorable mention selection, members have achieved a GPA of 3.50 and a "B" time standard or competed at their respective qualifying meets. As a team, SMU posted a 3.49 GPA to place them in the top third of the 172 Division I women's squads to earn the team award.

Anna Cheesbrough - Masters in sport management
Vicky Cunningham - General business - MBA
Maddie Hoch - Management science (mathematics)

The American Athletic Conference also honored 22 Mustangs on its all-academic list.

RIO SUCCESS
Rachel Nicol // Canada
Nicol, who entered the Games as the No. 18 seed in the 100-meter breaststroke, earned herself a fifth-place finish in the event. Nicol secured her finish clocking a personal-best 1:06.68 in the event final. She advanced as part of the top eight after posting a 1:06.73 in the second of two semifinals. For her performance in the individual event, Nicol earned a spot on Canada's fifth place 4x100-meter medley relay squad finishing in a National Record time of 3:55.49. Canada was the No. 2 seed headed into the final after winning its semifinal heat in 3:56.80.

Matea Samardzic // Croatia
Samardzic's best finish came in the 100-meter backstroke, where the Croatian finished 13th overall in semifinals touching in 1:00.60. She also reached the semifinals in the 200 distance, finishing 15th in 2:09.83. In her first of her three events at the Games, the 400-meter individual medley, Samardzic posted a National Record time of 4:39.41. The National standard earned Samardzic the win in heat two of the event by nearly four seconds. It was also over five seconds ahead of her 4:44.63 entry time.

Nina Rangelova // Bulgaria
Participating in her third Games, Rangelova competed in heats of both the 100- and 200-meter freestyle. The Bulgarian finished fourth in her heat and 22nd overall in the 200 at 1:58.57, and was 31st overall in the 100 clocking a 55.71. Head coach Steve Collins also represented Bulgaria as Rangelova's coach.

Isabella Arcila // Colombia
Arcila posted a National Record time in her heat of the 50-meter freestyle, touching the wall in 25.35. Overall, the Colombian was fourth in her heat and 30th out of 91 entered participants in her first Olympics.

2016 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
The SMU women's swimming and diving team concluded the 2015-16 NCAA season at the NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship in Atlanta, March 16-19. Junior Marne Erasmus and Tara-Lynn Nicholas represented the Mustangs, competing in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. Both swimmers also posted B standards in the 200 distances of their respective events, as well as the 50-yard freestyle. Erasmus finished the event 11th overall and third in the Consolation Final, earning All-America honors, while Nicholas was 21st overall.
In all, eight Mustangs posted NCAA B standards throughout the season.

AAC CHAMPIONS
SMU won 10 of 18 swimming events to defend its AAC Championship. The win is the Mustangs' second in the three-year history of The American, and 17th in the last 20 seasons. In all, the Mustangs earned five individual championships, and swept the event's five relays. Marne Erasmus (butterfly) and Kirsty McLauchlan (individual medley) swept their individual specialties, while Tara-Lynn Nicholas won the 100-yard breaststroke.

ALL-CONFERENCE
The AAC Champion Mustangs placed seven individuals, as well as all five relays on the 2016 All-Conference list.

200 free relay*: Rogers, Nicholas, Erasmus, Cunningham
400 free relay*: Santa, Rogers, Hoch, Cunningham
800 free relay*: Hoch, Santa, Bezan, Cunningham
200 medley relay*: Sudarma, Nicholas, Erasmus, Rogers
400 medley relay*: Volchkov, Nicholas, Erasmus, Cunningham
Cheesbrough: 200 fly
Cunningham: 100 free, 200 free
Erasmus: 100 fly*, 200 fly*
Hoch: 500 free
McLauchlan: 200 IM*, 400 IM*
Nicholas: 100 breast*, 200 breast
Rogers: 50 free

*Denotes Conference Champion

PONIES ON TOP
SMU finished the season with all five of the fastest relay times in the American Athletic Conference. Individually, the Mustangs had six of the top times in their respective events, and also 19 in the top five.

CONFERENCE FAVORITES
Six Mustangs accounted for eight weekly accolades from The American last season. Marne Erasmus (Jan. 12), Maddie Hoch (Oct. 20 & Oct. 6), Tara-Lynn Nicholas (Nov. 3) and Hannah Rogers (Feb. 9) were honored on the swimming side, while Lauren Lamb (Feb. 9, Jan. 12) and Madeline Wainman (Oct. 6) were both been honored on the diving side.

CHAMPIONSHIP SUCCESS
SMU has won 17 of the last 20 conference championships, including a first-place finish at the American Athletic Conference Championship in 2016. The Mustangs have never finished outside of the top three under Steve Collins, with only two 3rd-place finishes. This is the 32nd consecutive year the Mustangs have appeared at the NCAA Championship, dating back to 1985. Of those 32 appearances, SMU has finished in the top 10 17 times, and inside the top 5 10 times. The highest placement came at the 1996 Championship, where the Mustangs earned runner-up honors.

MAKING HISTORY
Following the 2015-16 season the current Mustang roster accounted for 13 of the all-time top 10 performers in SMU history, with two holding school records. Four top performers were also in the top three. Team members are also part of two relays that rank in the top three of their respective events.

LEADER OF THE PACK
Head coach Steve Collins and assistant coach Ashley Dell were named the American Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year for the second straight season. Collins enters his 31st year as the head coach of the SMU women's swimming and diving team. A two-time NCAA Coach of the Year and 11-time conference Coach of the Year, Collins has led the Mustangs to 17 conference championships in the past 20 years and continually finishes among the top teams in the NCAA. During his tenure, SMU has 15 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, nine of those in the top five.