North Texas swimming falls short against SMU

[Skipper]

Morgan Price | Staff Writer

Despite picking up first-place finishes in both the 200m medley relay and the 100m breaststroke, the North Texas swimming team fell short against Southern Methodist University 143-99 on Senior Night in its last dual meet of the season.

The Mean Green got off to a strong start, barely edging SMU in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:44.76.

“I was really impressed with our 200m medley relay, those girls really came out fighting and they knew that we needed some momentum to start the meet,” head coach Brittany Roth said. “To watch Brittany Thurstin out touch [the] SMU swimmer in the end, that really got our team pumped.”

While the Mustangs took the win overall, North Texas had at least a fourth place finish in every event, which set the tone for its continued practices before the Conference USA Championships at the end of the month.

Roth was pleased with the times of her athletes and mentioned several bright spots, including junior Sarah Vaisse who finished first in the 100 breaststroke, as building blocks moving forward.

“The time [I got] was better than last week by about one second which is a really good time for where we are right now,” Vaisse said.  “I was satisfied with it and I feel really confident [going to] conference.”

Junior Isabelle Morris had two third-place finishes, one in the 200 freestyle and another in the 100 freestyle. After being sick during the week leading up to the meet, Roth was impressed with Morris’ performance.

“She lost some close ones but ultimately her times were really good,” Roth said. “That’s all you can ask of an athlete.”

While the Mean Green seniors didn’t have as much of an impact with their times throughout the meet, the group maintained a positive atmosphere on their night and brought some fun energy as well.

Singing, dancing, and cheering, North Texas honored its five seniors just before the end of the meet with flowers, signed plaques and photos in their final moment at their home pool.

Senior Abbie Imes said it was a weird feeling knowing that her college swimming career was so close to its end.

“This is it,” Imes said. “This is our last time in the pool. The races didn’t exactly go my way, but I’m not upset. I had a great time with my team and this is the last time I’m going to be able to do it with them [at home].”
The Mean Green swimming team will have an exhibition practice with the Mustangs on Saturday as both teams to prepare for their conference tournaments at the end of the month.

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