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Mustangs Trail Auburn In Record Shattering Night at the Classic

Nov 3, 2001

The SMU women's swimming & diving team trails first place Auburn 177-162 after day one of the SMU Women's Swimming & Diving Classic at Perkins Natatorium. In a night of tight races, SMU managed to capture two first place showings while staying neck and neck with the Tigers all night long.

"I'm really pleased with our performance tonight," SMU head swimming coach Steve Collins said. "We came into this not even in the top three in the rankings and we performed great."

Auburn grabbed the lead quickly, winning the night's first event, the 400 medley relay, and followed it up with the night's most exciting race, the 400 IM.

In the most spirited race of the night, Auburn's NCAA record holder Maggie Bowen broke the classic meet record in the 400 IM she set one year ago, while barely holding off SMU's Alenka Kejzar who also bettered Bowen's mark of last year. Bowen touched in with a time of 4:13.60, while Kejzar's time of 4:14.92 was also better than Bowen's meet record from 2000 which was 4:15.47.

After UCLA's Malin Svahnstrom finished first in the 200 free, SMU fought back as 2001 WAC Freshman of the Year, All-American Georgina Lee finished first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.31.

After Miami's Michelle Davison set a new meet record with 301.70 points in the one-meter diving competition, SMU took the lead as sophomore All-American Anu Koivisto breaking a classic record in her first individual race of the 2001-02 season, the 100 back, with a time of 55.11. Auburn's Bowen lead the Tigers back to the top spot though, as the Jackson, Mississippi native and former Jackson Prep standout won the 100 breast with a time of 1:02.93.

The Tigers capped the night off with a first place showing in the last event of the evening, the 800 free relay. UCLA is in third after day one with 146, while Pacific, Rice, and Miami round out the bottom three.

On the night, three meet records were shattered, while both Bowen and Kejzar qualified for the NCAAs with their epic battle in the 400 IM.

Saturday's races begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be held at Perkins Natatorium. For complete coverage of the SMU Women's Swimming & Diving Classic log onto www.smumustangs.com/swimw/01-02/classic.asp.

Team Rankings After Day One:

Auburn 177
SMU 162
UCLA 146
Pacific 119
Rice 117
Miami 107