DALLAS – The San Diego State swim and dive team finds itself in first place among eight teams through the first day of competition at the SMU Invitational inside Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center.
The Aztecs tallied 274 points on Thursday, topping Hawai'i (227 pts), Miami (FL) (199 pts), host SMU (190), fellow Mountain West member Wyoming (100 pts) and Drury University (95 pts), followed by TCU (20 pts) and Arkansas (13 pts), which are competing in diving events only.
SDSU senior Kristina Murphy recorded an NCAA B cut time in 200 individual medley with a season-fast swim of 1:59.22 to finish third in the A Finals.
The Aztecs also collected points in the A Finals of the aforementioned event, as Alex Roberts (2:01.39), Moa Bergdahl (2:02.61) and Evonne Stehr (2:04.43) placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Meanwhile, Christiana Williams took third in the B Finals with a clocking of 2:03.31, followed by Riley Tapley, who was sixth at 2:04.83.
SDSU's 200 freestyle relay team of Lizzie Menzmer, Jeannette King, Meredith Smithbaker and Lyndsey Wehr led off the day's festivities with a second-place finish after the quartet clocked in at 1:30.09.
The Aztec foursome of King, Bergdahl, Roberts and Smithbaker also logged a second-place performance in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:40.88, while the team of Tapley, Williams, Menzmer and Wehr combined for the third-fastest effort of 3:41.47, with that result counting as an exhibition.
Menzmer was also the Scarlet and Black's top competitor in the 100 butterfly, where she placed sixth in the A Finals with a swim of 54.28, followed by Emily Gebhardt, who took eighth after touching the wall at 56.13. In addition, Roberts turned in a winning effort in the B Finals with a time of 53.90 to finish ninth overall.
Gebhardt was the Aztecs' top swimmer in the 500 freestyle, where she finished fifth in the A Finals with a career-fast clocking of 4:50.74, while Paige Mitchell (4:52.21) and Wilma Johansson (4:53.79) followed in succession with season-best times of their own.
Not to be outdone, King (22.83) and Smithbaker (22.87) posted season-fast swims in the 50 freestyle to place third and fourth in the A Finals, respectively, while Wehr (22.98) and Avery Turney (23.02) also logged season bests of their own, finishing 1-2 in the B Finals and ninth and 10th overall.
In 1-meter diving competition, Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez maintained a zone qualifying standard after finishing third in the finals with 299.25 points.
The SMU Invitational resumes on Friday with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. CT/8 a.m. PT, followed by 3-meter diving at 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT, while finals are slated to get underway at 6 p.m. CT/4 pm. PT.
Friday's docket includes the 200 medley relay (finals only), 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 3-meter diving and the 800 freestyle relay (finals only).
A link to streaming video will be available on GoAztecs.com, and fans are encouraged to download the Meet Mobile app on their smartphones for updated results.
Aztecs Lead After Day One at SMU Invite
