Women's swim and dive team closes season with a win against Lobos
Brett Larson
In its last regular season meet, the H2O Frogs women's swim and dive team took a stroke forward in the Mountain West Conference as seniors and freshmen shined.
TCU beat the University of New Mexico Lobos 124.5-116.5 to close out the team's regular conference season.
The team had a fast start and jumped to the lead behind first place finishes from distance swimmers senior Keilah Walker and freshman Maria Alvarez.
Celebrating senior night, Walker started her day with a first place finish in the 1000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:34.33, beating the next closest swimmer by five seconds.
Walker also finished in second place in the 500-meter freestyle behind Alvarez to round out the distance events.
Supporting the seniors on their night were the freshmen who helped contribute to the win.
Alvarez followed Walker's first place finish with a win in the 200-meter freestyle, finishing in 1:55, a season best. In the 500-meter freestyle, Alvarez swam a season best 5:06.01 beating Walker's second place time by seven seconds.
Freshman Brittney Martinez took first place in the 200-meter backstroke and had a runner-up-finish to Alvarez in the 200-meter freestyle.
TCU had a 39-16 lead following consecutive first place finishes in the 1000-meter and 200-meter freestyle, but its lead started to slip.
The Frogs had a four event stretch without a win, letting the Lobos back into the meet.
A one-two finish from Martinez and junior freestyle Cheryl Townsend in the 200-meter backstroke keyed a four-event winning streak for the Frogs, sealing the meet.
The team has been struggling in conference meets this season and recently went 0-3 in a conference road trip against BYU, Utah and San Diego State University.
"We really needed a win in the worst way," head coach Richard Sybesma said. "It's a really good way to finish out their dual-meet season."
Walker said this was a great meet for the team, and her teammates did a great job helping seal the win.
Martinez said it was exciting to see everyone swim so well in such a competitive atmosphere.
Alvarez, a freshman from Colombia, has shone flashes of greatness, but this meet was her real coming out party with two first-place finishes, both of which were season best times.
"She had it in her, but we just hadn't seen it yet," Sybesma said.
Next up for the H2O Lady Frogs is the University of North Texas.
Sybesma said the team has not seen North Texas yet, but it should be a good last test before the team heads to the Conference Championships.
Walker said the team is mentally and physically prepared, and it is always good to head into the championships with a win.
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