HOUSTON - SMU junior Bryce Klein set the 3-meter diving meet record twice on Day 1 of the 2017 American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Campus & Wellness Recreation Center Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.
Klein opened the 3-meter event by setting the meet record in the preliminary round with a score of 424.05. In the finals, the native of Southlake, Texas, shattered his own record with a winning score 436.45. Following Klein was Cincinnati’s Louie Hunt (320.30) and UConn’s Dan Kinney (316.70).
In the 200-yard medley relay, SMU took gold in both the men’s and women’s events. The women’s team comprised of Matea Samardzic, Tara Nicholas, Marne Erasmus and Hannah Rogers clinched the event for the Mustangs for the third consecutive year with a time of 1:38.27. The men’s team of Bartosz Krzyzaniak, Ziga Cerkovnik, Szymon Golczyk and Ralph Koo touched the wall at 1:27.00, edging East Carolina by 11-hudreths of a second.
For the third year in a row, East Carolina defeated the field in the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay. The Pirates team of Fran Krznaric, Grega Popovic, John Myhre and Blaz Demsar swam the distance in 6:27.81, over two seconds faster than the next finisher. On the women’s side, the Cincinnati relay team of Sara Wanasek, Michaela Wheeler, Sarah Laabs and Jacqueline Keire took first with a time of 7:10.07. The Pirates placed runner-up with a time of 7:11.39, followed by SMU (7:11.54).
UConn swept the top-three spots in the women’s 1-meter. Senior Allie Butera finished atop the podium with a winning-score of 282.50. Monica Marcello finished on Butera’s heels with a score of 280.85, followed by Michelle Kalupski (272.80).
East Carolina is in first place of the four-team men’s field with 114 points after the first day of events, followed by UConn (105), Cincinnati (101) and SMU (92).
The six-team women’s competition has UConn in first place with 118 points. Houston is in second with 104 points, followed by East Carolina (90), SMU (84), Cincinnati (82) and Tulane (56).
Competition continues on Thursday, with preliminary swimming events starting at 10 a.m. CT, followed by diving preliminaries at 12:30 CT. The finals are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT.
For complete coverage of the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, visit The American’s Championship Central at www.theamerican.org/swimdive and follow @American_Swim on twitter.