Daily Skiff

The women's swimming and diving team wrapped up its regular season with a loss to the University of North Texas on Wednesday night, and the conference championships are next on its schedule.

UNT beat TCU, 161-139, and the team fell to 6-8 on the year, finishing 2-6 in conference.

The win for the Mean Green was its first ever against TCU. The women's team was previously 16-0 against UNT dating back to the 1998-1999 season.

Coach Richard Sybesma said he was proud of the effort displayed by his team.

"We're building to a peak, which is where we are going to be three weeks from now when the conference meet starts," Sybesma said.

Junior Cheryl Townsend placed first in the 400-meter individual medley against UNT and said despite the loss, the team's effort is a good indicator for the conference championship.

"Everyone on the team really fought hard and it's looking like it's going to be a good conference meet for us," Townsend said.

The team has overcome both injury and illness recently, with one-third of the swimmers not able to swim in the meet Wednesday, Sybesma said.

However, he said the team is not using that as an excuse. Sybesma said he'd rather have swimmers not able to swim now than miss out on the conference meet.

While the team has faced adversity brought on by illness, sophomore Stephanie Futscher said the team could benefit from being challenged.

"We're in a pretty tough conference, with BYU and Utah," Futscher said. "So we've got to be pretty tough mentally."

Illness has also caused some of the divers to miss time, and it forced junior diver Claudia Combs to miss the meet Wednesday.

Sophomore Destiny Glampe has been impressive in her first year diving for TCU and has helped keep the team competitive.

"We've had a rough season, with injuries and people getting sick," Combs said. "But overall, I think we've done pretty well. Destiny has come in and performed very well for us."

Glampe placed fifth in the 3-meter dive and fourth in the 1-meter dive competition against UNT, Glampe said mental toughness and good coaching have helped her to execute dives she didn't think she could master when she first started.

"Coach Chester has given me a lot of confidence," Glampe said. "He's pushed me harder than I thought I could be pushed."

The men's team also finished its season with a loss to SMU on Jan. 25, and both teams are now preparing for the Mountain West Conference Championships.

Last season the women's and men's teams each finished sixth in the conference championships. The swimming and diving team will participate in the Mountain West Conference Championships in Oklahoma City, starting Feb. 27. The meet will run through March 1.

Article Tools