Dusel Ties for Diving Point Total Winner at SMU Classic
DALLAS, Texas – Junior Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill) led the No. 10 Virginia women’s swimming and diving team on the final day (Oct. 13) of the 25th annual SMU Classic at the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium in Dallas, Texas.
Dusel won the 3m board, recording a score of 319.55 for the victory. Combined with her second-place finish yesterday on the 1m board, Dusel tied as the diving point total winner with Miami’s Alicia Blagg.
“Good second day at the SMU Classic, wrapping up with a third-place finish we are pretty pleased with,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “I’m definitely happy with where we are at in training and how the women performed. I think we were a little bit better today than we were yesterday, which is always nice to see, to come back in the second day and be equal or better than the first day. The highlight for today was definitely Sydney Dusel winning the 3m. She also tied for the high point award for diving, when she got second yesterday and first today. Obviously, with the new diving coach Drew Livingston with us, we are really excited with what he has done in such a short amount of time, in just six or seven weeks into the season with our divers. I’m looking forward to the continued success on the boards throughout the season. That could be a huge boost to our program come championships season.
“I’m happy with how things went today. The team had a lot of fun, enjoyed it. We’re hopeful to be invited back next year as well. We have a little bit of a gauntlet of dual meets coming up in the next three meets. Again, we are just trying to build on what we have done so far and continue to get better. We end our dual meet season three weeks from now against Louisville, who won the meet this weekend. That will be a fantastic challenge for our women, to finish off the dual meet season this semester. Really happy with where we are at right now, really happy with how they are racing and looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Virginia recorded a score of 299 points, finishing third behind No. 8 Louisville, who placed first with 358 points, and No. 11 USC, who placed second with 312 points. Iowa finished fourth with 236.5 points, while Miami finished fifth with 227.5 points and SMU finished sixth with 226 points.
Virginia opened the meet with a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Redshirt junior Megan Moroney (Deerfield Beach, Fla.), freshman Kaki Christensen (Darien, Conn.), sophomore Anna Pang (London) and sophomore Kyla Valls (Miami, Fla.), respectively, swam a time of 1:40.18.
In the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) recorded a second-place finish with a time of 4:46.06. Junior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) placed second in the consolation finals and eighth overall with a time of 4:47.83.
Christensen placed fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:17.93, while freshman Julia Menkhaus (Charlotte, N.C.) finished 11th with a time of 2:24.42.
Moroney led the Cavaliers in the 200-yard backstroke with a second-place finish. She recorded a time of 1:53.78 in the event. Sophomore Abby Richter (Henderson, Nev.) won the consolation heat, finishing seventh overall in the event, with a time of 1:56.87.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Hill placed third with a time of 49.19, while Pang finished ninth with a time of 50.40.
Menkhaus and Madden finished third and eighth, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly. Menkhaus recorded a time of 1:57.79 and Madden captured a time of 1:59.33.
Richter swam a time of 2:00.72 in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing third in the event. Christensen placed 11th in the event with a time of 2:06.68.
Virginia concluded the meet with a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Hill, Pang, Moroney and Valls, respectively, swam a time of 1:30.63 in the event.
Virginia will return to action on Oct. 20, hosting Pitt in a dual meet at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.