The 2008 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships took place on February 13-16 at the Carroll ISD Aquatic Center in Southlake, TX, and the meet proved to be among the most exciting in the conference’s ten year history.  The Trinity University women’s team went into the SCAC’s knowing they would face tough competition from their traditional rival, DePauw University of Indiana, and from an improved squad representing Centre College of Kentucky.  Coaches John Ryan, Pete Yelacic, and Stan Randall spent long hours studying the conference talent pool trying to determine the best possible line-up for the 10^th annual conference title meet in order to best position Trinity’s swimmers and divers for a successful title run.  In the end, a solid 160 point win over their counterparts from DePauw proved for the 5^th year in a row that the T.U. Tigers are the top team in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.  The final team scores for the 2008 classic were as follows:

Trinity University 910

DePauw University 750.5

Centre College 676.5

Rhodes College 535

Southwestern University 409.5

Colorado College 357

University of the South 329

Austin College 235.5

Hendrix College 227

Leading the Tigers from San Antonio was senior Leta Gatton of Brownsville, TX, who captured two big wins for Trinity.  Gatton had open water on the field upon winning the 200 freestyle title with a meet record breaking time of 1:53.77, and then set a new conference standard in the 100 freestyle by sprinting home with a 52.46 (both NCAA consideration times).  She also anchored Trinity’s meet record setting 800 freestyle relay (7:53.66), where she was joined by junior Lindsay Weigley of Chevy Chase, MD and first-year standouts Mary West of Phoenix, AZ and Leigh-Anne Ladymon of Brentwood, TN.  Both West and Ladymon had terrific seasons, swimming frequent personal-records throughout the year and then earning All-SCAC honors with their conference performances.  West finished runner-up in the 500 freestyle (5:14.64) and was 3^rd in the 1650 while Ladymon touched in 2^nd in the 100 butterfly (59.19) and 4^th in the 200 individual medley (2:12.77).  All-SCAC individual honors were also earned by Lindsay Weigley (200 freestyle), Renee Ulrich of Albuquerque, NM (200 backstroke), and Annia Parra of El Paso, TX (200 breaststroke).  All-SCAC relay honors were earned by Gatton, Weigley, West, and Ladymon, as well as Sonya Karbach of Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, Lauren Gann of Huntsville, TX, Alison Gizinski of Tucson, AZ, Jessica Schwartz of Nashville, TN, and Kristen Zinser of Cypress, TX

Perhaps the most dramatic display of domination at this year’s SCAC meet was the near-flawless show put on by the T.U. women’s diving team.  The Tiger belles went 1-2-3-4-5-8 on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, a feat never before recorded by any group of conference swimmers or divers in any SCAC championship event.  First-year Hayley Emerick of Portland, TX earned 2008 SCAC Diver-of-the-Year honors by winning both the 1 and 3 meter contests, setting meet records in the process.  In the 3-meter competition, she edged team-mate and last year’s SCAC Diver-of-the-Year, Lauren Walstad of Katy, TX, by earning a score of 496.05 points.  Sophomore Lindsay Martin of Longview, TX tallied a 3^rd place finish there, with all three of T.U.’s top divers earning All-SCAC honors.  In the 1-meter competition, Emerick tallied 475.40 points to break another record held previously by Walstad.  Runner-up honors on 1-meter went to Martin, who just nipped Walstad in a tight contest between these two very talented team-mates.  Senior Brady Kosel of Katy, TX, was 4^th and first-year Amy Oliver of Houston, TX finished 5^th in both diving events.