|
|
|
2006-07 TCU swimming and diving year in review
Both the men and women placed sixth in the MWC Championships
March 5, 2007 FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU men's and women's swimming and diving teams ended the 2006-07 season with a bang, setting four new school records and winning two individual titles at the Mountain West Conference Championships on Feb. 21-24. The men finished the season with an overall record of 6-3 and 2-3 in the conference, while the women ended with a mark of 13-4 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
After taking the first two meets against McMurry and UTPB on Oct. 5, the Frogs opened the home season when the women hosted North Texas and Incarnate Word. Senior Erica Tate notched two wins and participated in a relay victory to lead the Frogs past a much-improved North Texas squad, 79-61.
The North Texas meet also saw the emergence of freshman diver Jennifer Ferguson. Ferguson, a native of Beaconfield, Quebec, won the one- and three-meter diving events for her first two collegiate victories. Ferguson would go on to notch 10 consecutive victories to start her career at TCU with a 12-0 record.
After dropping their first two conference contests against Colorado State and BYU, the women got back on track with a victory at Air Force. Highlighting the event was Ferguson, who earned her fourth consecutive sweep of the diving events. Fellow freshman Stephanie Futscher also had a strong showing, winning her sixth event of the early season in the 200-fly in a time of 2:23.59.
Two days later, the Frogs traveled to Wyoming where the men scored their first conference victory of the season against the Cowboys. Yousif Del Valle, Alejandro Gomez and Scott McCracken all earned two wins to lead the Frogs.
The men and women wrapped up the first half of the home season on Nov. 18th in style, with routs of San Diego State and Centenary, which allowed TCU head coach Richard Sybesma to pick up career win No. 350. Fourteen different swimmers and divers got in the win column on the day.
Senior Tara Sullivan picked up her first two wins of the season in the 100- and 200-free events, while Ferguson recorded another sweep to move to the 12-0 mark on the season. Tate also highlighted action, winning the 50-free in a time of 23.83 to move to 6-0 on the year in the event. Jonathon Berrettini, Stuart Silver and sophomore diver R.J. Hesselberg helped lead the Frogs over Centenary, as all three recorded double event wins.
The Frogs traveled to Las Vegas over Christmas break to participate in the UNLV Invite on Dec. 16-18, where both squads finished in third place. The tournament saw sophomore Cheryl Townsend come to life, where she notched five top-five finishes, leading the women in each event. Townsend would go on to record a remarkable spring season, winning nine events over the last six meets.
Gomez highlighted the UNLV Invite for the men, finishing in the top-five three times, leading the men on each occasion. The Caracas, Venezuela, native notched a second place finish in the 1650-free for the school's third-fastest time of 15:37.45.
The women opened the spring campaign with a 145-115 victory over Northern Arizona, relying on three event wins from Townsend. The men got back in action five days later against conference foe Utah, recording an impressive 160-123 victory over the Utes. Guillermo Ramirez and Del Valle each won three events as all five seniors earned wins. The men won all 14 swimming events on the day.
After dropping their meet against Utah, which saw Tate's undefeated 50-free dual meet record come to an end at 7-0, the women went on to defeat New Mexico, North Texas and Incarnate Word. The women narrowly escaped against North Texas earlier in the season, but left no doubt the second time around with an 83-48 rout of the Mean Green. Tate led the women as the senior accounted for four wins on the night.
The men and women came together to end the regular season at Centenary. Both squads earned wins as they combined to set four new Centenary Fitness Center records. The women earned their 13th victory of the season, which has only been done one other time in the program's history.
The Frogs concluded the season with a successful showing at the conference championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. The men, who finished sixth in the team standings, were responsible for three new TCU records. Gomez finished the 1650-free in third spot, and in the process, set the new school record in the 1000-free with a time of 9:19.19. Two relay records were also broken, as the 200-medley relay team of Berrettini, Aran Bean, Ramirez and Josh Bagby recorded a time of 1:30.12, while Berrettini, Del Valle, Bagby and Ramirez teamed up to record a time of 3:00.41 in the 400-free relay.
The women also finished sixth, which saw Tate set the new TCU record in the 50-free with a time of 23.17.
The Frogs had two swimmers earn individual championships at the tournament. Ramirez took the 200-back with the conference's season-best time of 1:47.37. Townsend also recorded the season's fastest time in the conference, as the sophomore won the 400-IM in a time of 4:24.60.
Sixteen Frogs were selected to the All-Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving team, bettering the previous year's mark of 10. For the men, Cameron Allred, Josh Bagby, Aran Bean, Jonathan Berrettini, Yousif Del Valle, Alejandro Gomez, R.J. Hesselberg and Guillermo Ramirez were honored, while Lori Birkhead, Stephanie Futscher, Meredith Grubb, Maribeth Pottenger, Katie Rosen, Tara Sullivan, Erica Tate and Cheryl Townsend were selected on the women's side.
|
|
