Feb. 20, 2007

FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU swimming and diving team will travel to Oklahoma City, Okla., to participate in the Mountain West Conference Championships hosted by the Oklahoma City Community College Aquatic Center on Feb. 21-24.

The women, who are 13-4 overall, finished the conference regular season in sixth place with a 3-4 record, while the men, 6-3 overall, finished in fourth with a conference mark of 2-3. Both the men and women will look to improve on last season's conference championship finishes of sixth and fourth, respectively.

"I'm really excited to see how well we perform this week," said TCU head coach Richard Sybesma. "I think we'll surprise some people with our performance."

Erica Tate enters the tournament with three top-10 times in the conference. Tate is seeded second in the 100-fly (56.12), third in the 50-free (23.43) and fifth in the 100-free (52.01). The two-time TCU record holder went 9-1 this season in the 50-free in dual meets.

Cheryl Townsend also posted three top-10 times in the conference. Townsend places third in the 400-IM (4:29.42), fifth in the 1650-free (17:19.75) and sixth in the 200-back (2:04.78). The Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, native had a remarkable spring season, recording eight events wins over the last five meets.

Keilah Walker and Maribeth Pottenger both recorded two top-10 times in their respective events this past season. Walker is currently eighth in the 1000-free (10:27.45) and ninth in the 1650-free (17:36.80), while Pottenger is sixth in the 200-breast (2:21.62) and seventh in the 100-breast (1:06.26).

Other Frogs with top-10 conference times include Sarah Bardwell, who places ninth in the 1000-free, Stephanie Futscher, who is seeded third in the 200-fly, and Katie Rosen, with the tenth-best time in the 200-breast.

The seniors highlight the top conference times for the men's squad. Guillermo Ramirez currently holds the third-best time in the 100-back (50.29) and fifth-best time in the 200-back (1:50.11). Last season's most valuable swimmer won conference swimmer of the week honors after recording three wins against Utah.

Seniors Aran Bean, Yousif Del Valle and Alejandro Gomez also posted top-10 conference times. Bean currently holds the eighth-best time in the 100-breast, while Del Valle holds the fifth-fastest time in the 100-fly and Gomez sits in ninth-spot in the 1000-free.

Junior Scott McCracken enters the tournament seeded seventh in the 50-free with a time of 21.02.

Jennifer Ferguson and R.J. Hesselberg both had outstanding seasons for the TCU divers. Ferguson, who began her collegiate career with a 12-0 record, has the second-best score in both the one-meter (315.67) and three-meter (331.13) dives, while Hesselberg is seeded fourth in the one-meter (312.66) and sixth in the three-meter (324.75).

The action will start at 10 a.m. on Wednesday with the men's one-meter dive. For the first year, live stats will be made available on http://themwc.cstv.com/livestats/c-swim/results/index.htm. For complete results of the tournament, visit www.gofrogs.com.