NCAA Div. I Women: After Two Days, Mustangs Riding to Victory at WAC Championships
By Bill Bell
SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 23. COACH STEVE COLLINS' No. 11-ranked SMU Lady Mustangs are well on its way to winning their fifth consecutive Western Athletic Conference Championships after two days of splashing at the Palo Alto Community College Pool here, leading second-place Hawaii, 628-396.
For openers, Mustang freshman Andrea Cassidy established a WAC meet, conference, school and pool record in the 400 IM with her pr 4:16.91, narrowly missing the NCAA automatic cut. Teammate freshman Anu Koivisto, a Finnish Olympian, earned her second title of the championships in the 100-yard backstroke with an automatic "A" cut of 54.36. She won the 200 IM opening day with a sparkling 1:59.52, also dipping below the automatic standard.
Sophomore teammate Sarah Chandler defended her title in the 100 breast with a meet- and pool-record time 1:01.89, and the Mustangs' 200 medley relay consisting of Koivisto, Chandler, freshman Dallas Marshall and senior Katina Maistrellis — a Greek Olympian –broke the four-year-old pool record previously set by SMU in 1997. The winning time — 1:40.98 — is an NCAA provisional cut. SMU's 800 freestyle relay, consisting of freshman British Olympian Georgina Lee (national record-holder in the 200 fly), sophomores Lisa and Lotta Wanberg and McCall Dorr claimed the crown with an NCAA automatic, WAC meet and pool record 7:13.17.
Team Scores
Place School Points
1 SMU 628
2 Hawaii 396
3 Rice 356
4 Nevada 311
5 TCU 282
6 Fresno State 221
7 San Jose State 212