TCU
MWC Championships
Rasch Wins 100-Free MWC Title
2/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Feb. 26, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY -- TCU sophomore Sabine Rasch won the gold medal in the 100-freestyle at the 2011 Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships inside the Oklahoma City Community College Aquatics Center.
Rasch touched the wall in 49.25 for a TCU record and an NCAA "B" cut. The Luckenwalde, Germany native bettered BYU's Sara Baldwin by more than six-hundredths of a second. She became only the second woman in TCU history to win an individual MWC title, joining Cheryl Townsend, who won the 400-individual medley gold medal in 2007.
Rasch trailed Wyoming's Kelsey Conci at the first 50-yard split before closing in a blazing split final 50 yards of 25.56 to touch the wall ahead of Baldwin and Conci. Her time was just four-hundredths of a second off the all-time MWC record.
The TCU women's 400-freestyle relay completed the sweep on the women's side of breaking all of the TCU relay records at the 2011 MWC Championships. The quartet of Rasch, Katie Scarsella, Ashley Bolin and Parris Schoppa clocked a 3:23.92.
Their time broke the previous TCU mark of 3:25.36 set in 2004. It was also an NCAA "B" cut for the squad.
Senior Maria Paula Alvarez in the 1000-free and 1650-free closed out her final MWC Championships with two school-record performances in the 1650-free. The Cali, Colombia, native clocked a 16:39.41 better her own previous TCU benchmark time of 16:43.58.
In the event's first 1000 yards, she also bettered her own TCU mark in the 1000-free with a 9:59.88 split. Alvarez broke all of her own TCU records in the 500-free, 1000-free and 1650-free at this year's MWC Championships.
Freshmen Michelle Fleming and Amanda Vincent also put their names at the top of TCU all-time performance lists in the 200-breaststroke and 200-butterfly, respectively.
In the 200-butterfly, Vincent took home third-place honors with an NCAA "B" cut of 1:59.20. She broke the previous TCU school-record time of 2:00.33, set by Stephanie Futscher in 2009.
Fleming's time of 2:15.77 in the finals was also good for an NCAA "B" cut and shattered the previous TCU all-time mark of 2:17.44.
Junior breaststroke Edgar Crespo broke the TCU record in the 200-breast when he touched the wall in 1:58.60. The time is an NCAA "B" cut and almost a full second better than Jason Flint's previous time of 1:59.45, a record that had stood since 1996.
The final school record to fall on the weekend came from freshman Michael Franz in the 1650-freestyle. His time of 15:24.73 was better than Chris Kern's previous time of 15:30.25, set in 1995.
For the team standings, UNLV won its seventh-straight men's title, while San Diego State won its first women's conference crown. TCU earned its best finish on the men's side with a fourth-place showing.
2011 Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships - Final Team Standings
MEN
1. UNLV - 770.5
2. BYU - 672
3. Wyoming - 594.5
4. TCU - 497.5
5. Utah - 471
6. Air Force 413.5
WOMEN
1. San Diego State - 646
2. BYU - 562
3. Wyoming - 524
4. UNLV - 448
5. Utah - 443
6. TCU - 381
7. Colorado State - 322
8. New Mexico - 247
9. Air Force - 141
Players Mentioned
