DALLAS – Bolstered by two individual event winners, the San Diego State swim and dive team captured the team title on Saturday at the SMU Invitational at Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center.
The Aztecs compiled an impressive 907 points at the three-day meet, easily outdistancing second-place Hawai'i (713 pts), while Miami (FL) (677 pts) took third, followed by host SMU (666 pts), fellow Mountain West member Wyoming (364 pts) and Drury University (358 pts). Rounding out the field were TCU (65 pts) and Arkansas (44 pts), which competed in diving events only over the weekend.
With their claim to the tournament crown, SDSU has recorded four first-place performances in 13 regular-season invitational meets since the start of the 2017-18 campaign and has not finished outside of the top three during that span, notching an additional seven second-place efforts and a pair of third-place results in that span.
The Aztecs took home two more event titles and recorded several NCAA B cut times on Saturday, including a triumphant Wilma Johansson, who won the A Finals in the 200 butterfly with a career-fast time of 1:59.13, which ranks third in school history, while Emily Gebhardt moved into fifth place on SDSU's all-time charts with a collegiate-best 1:59.77 to finish third.
Not to be outdone, Alex Roberts emerged victorious in the A Finals of the 200 backstroke, where she touched the wall with an NCAA B cut time of 1:55.26. Earlier in the preliminary heats, the Aztec junior climbed into second place on the program's performance list after logging her collegiate-best swim of 1:54.91.
SDSU tacked on additional points in the 200 backstroke, as Abby Storm took fourth in the A Finals with a season-fast clocking of 1:58.82, while Riley Tapley completed the race in sixth at 1:59.65.
A total of four swimmers tallied points for the Scarlet and Black in the 100 freestyle, including a second-place performance in the A Finals by Meredith Smithbaker, who logged an NCAA B Cut time with a career-fast 49.10 clocking, which ranks fourth in school history, while Jeannette King posted a season-best 50.20 to finish seventh.
Elsewhere, Avery Turney won the B Finals of the 100 freestyle and placed ninth overall after clocking in at 50.72, while Lyndsey Wehr placed seventh in the race and 15th overall with a time of 51.10.
The Aztecs also displayed their depth in the A Finals of the 200 breaststroke, where Christiana Williams and Kristina Murphy recorded NCAA B cut times to finish second and third, respectively. Williams swam a season-fast 2:11.84, which ranks sixth on the Aztecs' all-time charts, while Murphy completed the distance in 2:12.39. Additionally, Moa Bergdahl climbed into 10th place on the school's performance list with a sixth-place clocking of 2:14.76.
In the B Finals of the 200 fly, Lizzie Menzmer finished second and 10th overall with a time of 2:03.69, while teammate Emily Tenczar followed in succession with at 2:04.00.
San Diego State received a pair of season-fast swims in the 1,650 freestyle, including a ninth-place finish by Paige Mitchell at 17:25.07, while Emily Allen wound up in 13th after touching the wall at 17:49.96.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the Aztec foursome of Alyssa Schiller, Murphy, Wehr and Tapley placed fifth with a time of 3:23.96, while the team of Tenczar, Johansson, Storm and Roberts finished 13th after clocking in at 3:30.68.
In the finals of the platform diving event, Ximena Lechuga Gonzalez established a zone qualifying total of 229.90 points to finish fifth, while Taylor Konopacke was seventh after racking up 210.20 points.
Aztec divers will be back in action next month for the CBU Lancer Diving Invitational. SDSU will make the short drive to Mission Viejo, California, for platform competition on Friday, Dec. 16, before heading over to Riverside to participate in the 1-meter and 3-meter events on Saturday, Dec. 17.
Aztec Swim and Dive Wins SMU Invitational
