Complete Results
HOUSTON (SMU) – Jonathan Gomez was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer, and
Bryce Klein was selected as the top diver at the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championships. Diving coach
Jim Stillson was also named the Men's Diving Coach of the Meet, and the SMU men's swimming and diving team finished second in Houston.
Gomez won his third event of the Championships, taking home gold in the 200-yard butterfly, to set his third SMU and conference meet records of the event. The junior turned in a time of 1:41.98, which shattered the SMU record of 1:44.43 set by Olympian SMU Athletics Hall of Famer Ricardo Prado in 1994. It also broke the previous meet record of 1:45.00 posted by Mustang Tyler Rauth in 2015. Gomez also earned championships in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley.
He was one of three SMU swimmers in the 200 fly A Final, and two to make the podium, as sophomore
Simon Golczyk finished third in 1:48.70. Sophomore
Garrett Carson (1:48.81) finished fourth.
Klein medaled for the third time this week en route to his Most Outstanding Diver honor, finishing second in his season debut in platform. The junior finished just nine points behind event winner Spencer Beaulieu of Connecticut with a six-round 237.45. He finished first on both springboards at the Championship, setting the meet and school record on 3 meter.
Freshman
Ronen Faur also earned maximum points for the Mustangs, taking gold in the 200-yard breaststroke in 1:56.21. Junior
Stefan Popov (2:00.07) joined Faur in the A Final and finished seventh.
SMU received a pair of runner-up performances from junior
Bartosz Krzyzaniak (1:45.74) in the 200-yard backstroke and senior
Ziga Cerkovnik (44.37) in the 100-yard freestyle. Senior
Brandon Norman (fifth, 200 back) and
Ralph Koo (7th, 100 free) scored in those Championship Finals as well.
In the mile, sophomore
Lucas Schenke (6th) and classmate
Carson Klein (8th) finished in the top eight.
The Mustangs closed out the Championship with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 2:56.97, less than a second behind event champion East Carolina. Krzyzaniak,
Nick Badsky, Cerkovnik and Koo represented the Ponies in the event.
East Carolina finished atop the field with 901 points, ahead of SMU with 764.5. The final relay sealed the runner-up spot by 4.5 points over Cincinnati (760), and Connecticut finished fourth with 634.5 points.
SMU next competes at the American S.C. Championships March 2-4 in Austin. Klein will travel to the NCAA Zones Championships March 6-8, and select Mustangs will head to the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis March 22-25 pending qualification.
