North Texas Daily

Swimming and diving became the first university team to compete in an American Athletic Conference championship last week at Southern Methodist University.

In the six-day meet, several athletes swam lifetime bests, achieved cut times for the National Invitational Championships and won consolation finals. With the team taking eighth place overall out of nine, head coach Brittany Roth said she was proud of how the team performed in a conference that featured tougher competition than they had seen before.

“I was blown away at the performance of our student-athletes,” Roth said. “It is really hard in these collegiate years, 18 to 22 years old, to go the fastest you’ve ever been in your life. To have a full week where we had so many of our student-athletes swimming better than they ever have in their lives or swimming better than they have all season — that is such a success.”

Senior swimmer Allison Scott and sophomore Lexie Green embrace after completing their events at the American Athletic Conference championship on Feb. 17, 2023. Matt Iaia

Roth said the discussion of swimming and diving moving to the American before the rest of the sports began in April. The team started working toward achieving small and incremental success every day during the summer.

“We wanted to make our athletes very aware of the challenge ahead, so we built in a lot of challenges on the way to help kind of rehearse and flex that muscle of facing a challenge head-on,” Roth said. “We just really normalized that ability to fall down and stand back up again, and our girls’ resiliency throughout the season really came through during the meet.”

The first two days of the championship consisted of exclusively diving events. Senior diver Saylor Hawkins took fourth in the 3-meter springboard consolation final, while graduate diver Brigid Krbec and senior diver Olivia Dollar finished fifth and seventh in the 1-meter springboard consolation final. Hawkins, Krbec and Dollar will compete at the NCAA Zone D Championships in March.

Sophomore swimmer Shaena McCloud was the top point-scorer for the Mean Green and finished sixth in the championship final of the 50-meter freestyle. Senior swimmer Diana Kolb tied Hawkins for the second-most points scored for North Texas, winning the consolation final of the 100-meter backstroke and taking second in the consolation final of the 200-meter backstroke.

“Throughout the season, we were truly more prepared to just swim fast even though it was gonna hurt, and we just had that support of our coaches and knew we’ve trained and are ready for this,” Kolb said. “It was really relieving to see that all my hard work paid off.”

Senior swimmer London Farris and sophomore swimmers Noelle Marsh and Kailey Turner swam in the consolation finals of their events, with Marsh taking first in the 100-meter freestyle. The team saw seven swimmers compete in C-finals, and sophomore swimmer Emily Ally won the C-final of the 100-meter backstroke.

“I was very shocked when I saw number one by my name,” Ally said “When I touched the wall, I had won my heat by a hundredth of a second. I had come from a team where it wasn’t the best environment […] and I wanted to prove a point. I was able to swim fast and prove that I’m here to do a job and support my team and be a well-rounded swimmer.”

Junior swimmer Diana Kolb competes in the women’s 100 yard backstroke at the American Athletic Conference championship on Feb. 17, 2023. Matt Iaia

Roth said the team makes an effort to celebrate every individual success, because those are the memories that athletes will carry with them after their swimming careers end.

“Our swimmers aren’t going to be able to recall what times they went at this meet one, three, five or 10 years from now,” Roth said. “What they will remember is how it felt to be a part of the success of their team – what it was like cheering for them, watching them get their times, what it was like competing and touching the wall, seeing your time and then seeing your teammates just erupt.”

Kolb said the energy from the team kept her motivated throughout the week, as she did not swim her first event until Friday.

“I don’t think I would’ve been able to have as much energy and as much hope in trusting the process if I didn’t have my team,” Kolb said. “They were always on the sideline and they were always there cheering. Even if you might have not done as well as you wanted to, you had 13 people right there at the edge ready to hug you. You can’t not thrive in that environment.”

The team will have 10 swimmers compete in the National Invitational Championship in Indiana on March 9-11, and three divers at the NCAA Diving Zones in Minnesota on March 7-9.

Featured Image Graduate Cierra Scully competes in the women’s 200 yard butterfly at the American Athletic Conference championship on Feb. 17, 2023. Matt Iaia