SMU Wins 2007 Conference USA Championships

HOUSTON, Texas, February 17. THE 2007 Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championship concluded Friday at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston. SMU successfully defended its conference crown with another runaway victory, scoring 853 points overall. SMU's 853 points are the second most points scored in C-USA Swimming Championship history.

The championship is the 11th consecutive overall for SMU and the team set four meet records and won 14 events during the four-day event. In addition, SMU took the top three spots in four events during the meet and grabbed the top two spots in two events.

Rice finished in second place with 653.50 points and East Carolina came in third with 586 points. The host Cougars finished fourth with 577 points, followed by Marshall with 381.50.

Friday's finals began with SMU going one-two in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Anja Carman touched first in 16:29.57, followed by Katie Roberts in 16:31.95.

Carman followed up her 1,650 win with a gold medal in the 200-yard backstroke. The junior won the event with a time of 1:59.41, out-touching Houston's Andrea Pa'lmai who finished in 2:01.52.

The Mustangs swept the top spots in the 100-yard freestyle with Petra Klosova finishing first with a new meet and pool record time of 48.79. Teammates Leane Darling (49.69) and Jennifer Blackman (50.10) took second and third, respectively.

Sophomore Jennifer Basel (2:15.01) set another meet and pool record in the 200-yard breaststroke when she out-touched former record holder Szi Szi Szanto of Houston (2:16.39).

Rice's Erin Mattson won the gold in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:01.94 and SMU's Justine Clark was only .02 seconds behind grabbing the silver, touching in 2:01.96.

The Mustangs closed out the evening with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Celina Lemmen, Blackman, Michelle Vlasakova and Darling won in 3:21.34. Rice followed in second with a time of 3:21.15 and Houston took third in 3:29.39.

In the women's platform finals, Houston took the top three diving spots for the second straight day. Rachel Gitelson scored 293.45 points to take the title, good for an NCAA `A' scoring mark. Her teammates Ginni Van Katwijk (264.05) and Anastasia Pozdniakova (240.65) took second and third pace, respectively.

Men's teams from league schools East Carolina and SMU along with Hawai'i are also competing in the C-USA men's invitational. SMU also claimed the meet title in that event scoring 923 points. The Mustang men have also won 11 straight conference titles. Hawai'i finished second with 890 points, while East Carolina claimed third with 731.

Besides the team awards, individual awards were also handed out that were voted upon by the league coaches. SMU and Houston split the four women's awards with the Mustangs' Steve Collins and Petra Klosova taking Women's Swimming Coach of the Year and Women's Swimmer of the Meet, respectively. Jane Figueiredo of UH was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year and Cougar sophomore Anastasia Pozdniakova was named Women's Diver of the Meet.

On the men's side SMU also took the swimming awards as Eddie Sinnott was voted Men's Swimming Coach of the Year and Ian Clark garnered Men's Swimmer of the Meet. The diving awards were swept by Hawai'i with Magnus Frick taking Men's Diver of the Meet award and Mike Brown claiming Men's Diving Coach of the Year.

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