Feb. 21, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The TCU men's and women's swimming and diving team opened the 2007 Mountain West Conference Championships on Wednesday at the Oklahoma City Convention Center. The men finished the day in sixth with 73 points, while the women are currently seventh with 59 points.

BYU leads the men's field through six events with 103 points, followed by Wyoming (96), Air Force (93), UNLV (86), Utah (84) and TCU (73). BYU also leads the women's competition with 120 points, followed by Wyoming (107), Utah (86), Colorado State (76), UNLV (72), New Mexico (63), TCU (59), Air Force (44) and San Diego State (36).

On the men's side, the 200-medley relay team of Jonathon Berrettini, Aran Bean, Guillermo Ramirez and Josh Bagby set a school record and placed third in the event with a time of 1:30.12. The men also competed in the 800-free relay, with Alejandro Gomez, Yousif Del Valle, Jason Hauck and Stuart Silver posting a time of 6:40.37 to finish fourth.

The women had a strong showing in the 800-free relay event, as the team of Karen Sandifer, Cheryl Townsend, Tara Sullivan and Meredith Grubb finished fourth with a time of 7:33.29. Lori Birkhead, Maribeth Pottenger, Natalie Melenric and Erica Tate teamed up to place sixth in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:46.86.

R.J. Hesselberg and Jennifer Ferguson represented TCU in the diving events. In the men's one-meter dive, Hesselberg posted a score of 280.40 to finish seventh out of 16 competitors. Ferguson scored a 252.05 in the women's three-meter dive to place 14th.

Action will get back underway on Thursday, starting with the men's and women's 500-free event. Live stats are available on www.themwc.com, and complete results can be viewed at www.gofrogs.com.