2023 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Swimming: Wednesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
- Diving: Monday, February 13 – Wednesday, February 15, 2023
- Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr McMillion Natatorium, Dallas, TX
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Houston (6x)
- Men: SMU (2x)
- Live Results
- Live Video
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide
The American Athletic Conference kicked off the swimming portion of their 2023 championships tonight in Dallas. Diving began on Monday and concluded tonight with platform.
Diving Recap
Since diving is now in the books for this meet, let’s examine what happened on the boards. In women’s diving, Houston cleaned up, leading all teams by a huge margin with 369 points across the three diving events. Houston senior Chase Farris won 3-meter diving with a total score of 337.65, taking first by about 18 points. The Cougars notably has three other divers in the 3-meter ‘A’ final.
SMU senior Nicole Stambo won women’s 1-meter, finishing with a score of 307.55, edging out Farris, who was second in 305.80. Once again, Houston had a total of four divers in that ‘A’ final.
In women’s platform diving, Florida International’s Maha Gouda set a new AAC Championship Record, racking up a score of 296.10. Once again, Farris came in second (275.80), while Stambo was third (267.10).
In men’s diving SMU’s Peter Smithson was exceptional. The senior swept the men’s diving events. In 1-meter, Smithson won with a score of 330.90. He won the title in 3-meter with a final score of 393.10, while he won platform with a score of 368.50.
Diving has set up Houston well as they chase their seventh-consecutive AAC women’s title. They enter the second day of swimming with a 129-point advantage over current second-place team FIU.
Swimming Recap
Florida International won both women’s relays tonight, making their mark in their first AAC Championships. In the women’s 200 medley relay, Kelsie Campbell (24.81), Christie Chue (26.83), Oumy Diop (23.58), and Jessica Shpilko (22.42) combined for a 1:37.64, winning the race by exactly 1.5 seconds. Chue’s 26.83 breast split was huge, coming in as the fastest breast split in the field by over half a second. FIU was just 0.32 seconds off the meet record of 1:37.32 in their first race at the AAC Championships.
FIU then went on to win the women’s 800 free relay in 7:10.86. Harliai Curthoys-Davies (1:47.76), Chue (1:47.13), Mia Zahab (1:47.78), and Var Eidesgaard (1:48.19) teamed up to win the race by two seconds. Other notable splits include Rice’s Lauren McDougall, who led off their relay in 1:46.47, marking the second-fastest split in the field and the fastest lead-off split. The fastest split in the field came from SMU freshman Lucrezia Napoletano, who anchored her relay in 1:45.61.
SMU won the men’s 200 medley relay by over a second, seeing Cole Bruns (22.05), Lance Butler (23.51), Riley Hill (20.72), and Justin Baker (19.16) combine for a 1:25.44. The Mustangs also won the men’s 800 free relay convincingly. There, Colin Feehery (1:34.07), John Easton (1:35.43), Jack Forrest (1:36.60), and Sage Sungail (1:35.46) teamed up for a 6:21.56.
FINAL STANDINGS (THRU WEDNESDAY)
MEN
- SMU – 237
- Cincinnati – 232
WOMEN
- Houston – 469
- FIU – 340
- East Carolina – 242
- FAU – 230
- SMU – 194
- North Texas – 164
- Cincinnati – 115
- Rice – 110
- Tulane – 90