Swim And Diving Confident After Day One

North Texas swim and dive wrapped up day one of competition at two seperate invitationals on Friday. The swimmers competed at the the Kansas Classic in Topeka, KS with two sessions during morning and evening. The divers are in Houston at the Phill Hansel Invitational, and completed just one event today with a preliminary session in the morning and the finals wrapping this evening.

The Mean Green sit middle of the pack in Kansas - third place in a six school field. North Texas picked up 166.5 points, trailing Iowa State University (195) and the hosts the University of Kansas (361.5).

"I'm really pleased with the girls' performances today," head coach Brittany Roth said. "We look for ways to be better at night, and we had a lot of solid performances in the final tonight. We have strong events tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to our team carrying this momentum forward throughout the rest of the meet."

Senior Brittany Thurstin had the highest solo placing for swimming, as she finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle with a 23.39.

The Mean Green competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM, 50-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay finals on Friday evening. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Mean Green clocked fourth, 11th and 19th place finishes. The fourth place team of Thurstin, senior Emmabeth Jensen, freshman Bryanna Vasquez and senior Kelsey Opiela turned in a time of 1:34.24 to score 30 points.

Sophomore Leigh Faires McGee placed sixth in the 500-yard freestyle to grab 13 points after posting a 4:56.81 time. Vasquez clocked in a 5:08.66 to place 15th in the same final. In the 200-yard IM, junior Jowita Sienczyk posted a 2:06.72 to come eighth. Freshman Karigan Stanley came 12th after swimming a 2:07.79 and freshman Alvena Walpole followed close behind in 14th at 2:08.57.

Jensen finished the 50-yard free in 23.51 to come eighth. Opiela finished 11th with a 23.88 race.

In the final event of the evening, the 400-yard medley relay, the Mean Green found themselves in fifth, ninth and 10th notably. North Texas' best team was made up of Sienczyk, senior Meaghan Rousset, Thurstin and McGee who swam in 3:46.97 out of lane seven to earn 28 points.

DIVING
Three North Texas divers made their way into the finals in Houston in the 1-meter dive. Sophomore Meghan Miller finished eigth in the A-final with a score of 246.40 to earn 22 points. Senior Averie Ruiz dove in the B-final to earn 12th place after scoring 234.60 - a 16 point improvement on her premilinary score. Junior Gaby Silva finished 16th with a 215.60 dive. Freshman Altaira Wallquist finished in 19th with 206.55 points.

Diving coach Mark Murdock was happy with what he saw.

"The divers did well today and are showing confidence while competiting," Murdock said. "Meghan making finals sets the tone for the team. She did a great job bettering her score from prelims and continues to demonstrate great focus."

Both events run through Sunday. Swimmers will hit the water on Saturday at approximatley 10 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Emmabeth Jensen

Leigh Faires McGee

Meghan Miller

Kelsey Opiela

Meaghan Rousset

Averie Ruiz

Jowita Sienczyk

Karigan Stanley

Brittany Thurstin

Bryanna Vasquez

Altaira Wallquist

Alvena Walpole

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