BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The San Diego State swim and dive team finished the first wave of action at the Art Adamson Invitational in a tie for fourth place Wednesday at the Rec Center Natatorium on the campus of Texas A&M University.
The Aztecs matched Washington State with 109 points, trailing front-runner Texas A&M (315 pts), UCLA (260 pts) and LSU (222 pts), while Utah (106 pts) and Houston (82 pts) rounded out the seven-team field.
Highlighting the day for the Scarlet and Black was Meredith Smithbaker, who emerged victorious in the "A" finals of the 50 freestyle with a career-fast sprint of 22.24, which surpassed an NCAA "B" cut qualifying standard and ranks third in program history.
In addition, Smithbaker swam the second leg of the Aztecs' 200 freestyle relay that finished fifth overall with a time of 1:30.86, joining forces with Rachel Hubka, Alyssa Schiller and Avery Turney.
To cap off the evening, Smithbaker anchored SDSU's 400 medley relay that placed eighth after clocking in at 3:39.26, combining with Alex Roberts, Moa Bergdahl and Reka Nyiradi.
Earlier, SDSU's second 200 free relay team took ninth overall, as the quartet of Evonne Stehr, Emily Allen, Bergdahl and Trine Forss completed the race at 1:33.45.
In the 200 individual medley, Nyiradi finished eighth in the "B" finals with a career-fast swim of 2:03.10, while Bergdahl was fourth in the "C" finals after touching the wall at 2:02.37. Not to be outdone, Mai McKenna won the "D" final race after clocking in at 2:00.36, which marked the eighth-fastest time of the event.
Along with Smithbaker's performance, Hubka placed third in the "B" finals of the 50 free with a season-fast swim of 22.98, just missing a career best by .02 seconds.
SDSU had two additional 400 medley relays score points, as the team of Riley Tapley, Stehr, Wilma Johansson and Schiller finished in 15th at 3:43.82, edging the combo of Abby Storm, McKenna, Emily Tenczar and Turney, who clocked in at 3:43.89.
The Aztecs were unable to advance any divers to the finals of the 3-meter springboard on Wednesday. Valentina Lopez Arevalo tied for 14th in the preliminaries with 246.45 points, while Jules Harrison (16th, 242.80 pts) and Olivia Zamudio (18th, 231.00 pts) also finished the round in the top 20.
The Art Adamson Invitational continues on Thursday with eight more events, including the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 freestyle relay, along with 1-meter diving.
Preliminaries will be conducted in long course distances (LCM) and are scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. CT/7:30 a.m. PT, while finals competition will feature short course races (SCY) and are slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. PT. Additionally, 1-meter prelims are pegged for a noon CT/10 a.m. PT start, with finals to follow at 4:15 p.m. CT/2:15 p.m. PT.
Smithbaker Wins 50 Free on Day One in Texas
