24th Annual 2017 SMU Women’s Classic
- Friday, October 13 – Saturday, October 14
- Westside Aquatic Center
- Lewisville, Texas
- Meet Info
- Live Results
The 24th Annual SMU Women’s Classic is set to get underway on Friday, with five teams going facing off at the Westside Aquatic Center in Lewisville, Texas. SMU’s new pool, the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium, is nearing completion and is slated to host LSU on November 3rd.
The teams heading to the meet will be Michigan, Louisville, USC, UCLA, Miami, and the hosts from SMU.
The meet format is uniquely its own, with each team selecting eight swimmers and one diver to represent them throughout the two days. Swimmers are permitted three events per day, one of which must be a relay. Each team will field two swimmers per event, one swimming in the championship final and one in the consolation final. Relays will only have a championship final.
The format of the meet elicits an intense atmosphere, which often leads to a touchstone early on in the NCAA season.
Last year, Michigan and Louisville duelled to the bitter end, with the Wolverines ultimately walking away with a 1-point win.
Headlining the rosters this year is 200 free NCAA champ Mallory Comerford of Louisville, who was the highest point scorer last year with 42. Individually she won the 100 free and had runner-up finishes in the 200 and 500.
Louise Hansson of USC was the one who upended the eventual national champ in the 200 free last year, and also came out on top in the 200 IM. She returns this year, as does Michigan’s Yirong Bi who won the 500 over Comerford in 2016.
Other notable names competing include Alina Kendzior of Louisville, Siobhan Haughey of Michigan, and Maddie Wright of USC. Check out full rosters below, minus Miami whose head coach Andy Kershaw has declined to share their roster for what he says are competitive reasons..
| Michigan | Louisville | USC | UCLA | SMU |
| Yirong Bi | Mallory Comerford | Louise Hansson | Katie Grover | Matea Samardzic |
| Siobhan Haughey | Alina Kendzior | Hannah Weiss | Sarah Kaunitz | Kathleen Charron |
| Vanessa Krause | Casey Fanz | Maddie Wright | Amy Okada | El Yellin |
| Catie Deloof | Maria Astashkina | Tatum Wade | Jennifer Lathrop | Agata Magner |
| Gabby Deloof | Rachael Bradford-Feldman | Lexie Malazdrewicz | Isabella Goldsmith | Erin Trahan |
| Becca Postoll | Grace Oglesby | Riley Scott | Kenisha Liu | Felicity Passon |
| Clara Smiddy | Arina Openysheva | Marta Ciesla | Sandra Soe | Sam Smith |
| Miranda Tucker | Lainey Visscher | Maggie Aroesty | Emma Schanz | Lauren Thompson |
| Nikki Canale | Molly Fears | Carly Souza | Ciara Monahan | Katie Crown |
The meet schedule is as follows:
| Friday 400 medley relay 400 IM 200 free 50 free 1 meter 100 fly 100 back 100 breast 800 free relay |
Saturday 200 medley relay 500 free 200 breast 200 back 3 meter 100 free 200 fly 200 IM 200 free relay |
Comerford is the athlete I’m looking out for this coming season; Big improvents at the right time. Louisville sure as hell replaced Worrell. Provided Openysheva can defend her 500fr points, I’d like to see Comerford tackle more butterfly this year.
*Arina Openysheva not Ariana