TCU
BYU
TCU Men Remain Unbeaten, Dismantling BYU in Provo
1/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
PROVO, Utah -- The TCU men's swimming and diving team continued to roll through its Mountain West Conference schedule Friday, toppling BYU on the road by the score of 172-119. The Horned Frogs' women's squad stumbled to a 197-90 loss to the Cougars.
"This was a really huge win for our program," TCU head coach Richard Sybesma said. "This has been a special year for our team and the guys are really pumped to be in this position."
The TCU men dominated 12 of the 16 events to advance to a 5-0 overall record, highlighted by a 4-0 mark against the MWC. BYU had been receiving votes in the latest CollegeSwimming.com/CSCAA Division I rankings before Friday's meet.
The Frogs have stormed past every conference opponent on their schedule up to this point, setting up a showdown with UNLV on Feb. 6 in the regular-season finale. TCU is the only undefeated team in the MWC, as the 5-0 clip best start for the men in program history.
Junior Jeff Gettel and sophomore Edgar Crespo led the charge for TCU, garnering three individual wins each. Gettel, a Plano, Texas native, made his presence felt by sweeping the backstroke events for the fifth time in as many meets this season. He stole the 100-back in 50.77, just ahead of teammate Nelson Head at 53.09, while taking the 200-back with a clocking of 1:50.85, nearly four seconds faster than runner-up Head at 1:54.52. Gettel is now 9-0 in the 200-back in the last two seasons.
Crespo continues to torch through the breaststroke events, claiming the 100-breast with a time of 55.92 and winning the 200-breast at 2:06.24. The Panama City, Panama product also paced the field in the 100-fly, tapping the wall at 50.15. Through the Frogs' first five dual meets this season, Crespo owns a 12-0 record as an individual this season, tacking on wins in the 100-breast, 200-breast, 100-fly and 200-IM.
Senior Josh Bagby picked up a pair of wins Friday, leading the way in the 50-free (21.46) and 100-free (46.14). Bagby had to fight for both medals, barely edging out fellow Frog Devin Price (21.49) and narrowly topping teammate Laszlo Gyurko (46.86) in the 100-free.
Rounding out the rest of TCU's top performers were juniors Kyle Callens and Edgar Peyro. Callens took to the sky to score a 359.33 tally for runner-up honors in the three-meter springboard, while Peyro blasted his way to another 200-fly win at 1:54.83.
The Frogs started the meet on the right foot by topping BYU in the opening relay as Gyurko, Crespo, Peyro and Bagby propelled themselves to a 1:32.05 time, giving TCU the early lead.
On the women's side, sophomore Jenny Oster earned runner-up honors in the backstroke events, clocking in at 59.48 in the 100-back and 2:07.30 in the 200-back. Freshman Ali Berry finished with a second-place showing of 1:55.43 in the 200-free, while newcomer Maggie Smith registered a time of 2:28.67 time in the 200-breast for second place.
TCU also claimed runner-up standards in both women's relays as Brittney Martinez, Megan Higginbotham, Oster and Parris Schoppa teamed up for a 1:49.31 time in the 200-medley relay, followed by a 400-free relay clocking of 3:32.15 by freshman Katie Scarsella, Zrinka Korac, Kristi Dena and Maria Paula Alvarez.
TCU will return to Fort Worth as the women host North Texas at 6 p.m., Jan. 15, at the University Recreation Center. Admission is free and fans are encouraged to watch the action.
Players Mentioned
