Aztecs Travel to Texas for Art Adamson Invite

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State swim and dive program returns to the competition pool this week when it travels to the Lone Star State for the Art Adamson Invitational, Nov. 15-17, in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
 
In addition to host Texas A&M, the Aztecs will battle the likes of Houston, LSU, UCLA, Utah and Washington State in a highly competitive field during the three-day meet at the Recreation Center Natatorium. Fans can follow live results by downloading the Meet Mobile app to their smartphones. In addition, finals will be streamed live via subscription basis on SEC Network+.
 
Preliminaries will feature long course distances (LCM) and are scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. CT/7:30 a.m. PT all three days, while finals will be contested as short course swims (SCY) and are slated to begin at 5:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. PT.
 
Women’s 3-meter diving preliminaries are scheduled to start on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. CT/12:15 p.m., while the finals are set to begin as the ninth event during swimming competition later in the evening. In addition, women’s 1-meter prelims are slated to commence on Thursday at noon CT/10 a.m. PT, followed by the finals at 4:15 p.m. CT/2:15 p.m. PT, while the men’s and women’s platform competition is listed as a combined event and is set to get underway on Friday at noon PT.
 
Wednesday’s action will feature the 200 freestyle relay, 400m/500y freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 3-meter diving and the 400 medley relay.
 
Thursday’s slate will include the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 1-meter diving and the 800 freestyle relay.
 
The meet will then conclude on Friday with the 1,650 freestyle, platform diving, the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and the 400 freestyle relay.
 
A-B-C-D finals will be offered for all individual events 200 meters/yards and shorter, while A-B-C finals will be available for the 400/500 freestyle and 400 IM.
 
Individual championship events will be scored in the following sequence, 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11, while consolation events will run 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
 
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Aztec head coach Mike Shrader earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas A&M in 1981, before completing a master’s degree in exercise and sports science from West Texas A&M University in 1991.
 
SDSU is coming off a second-place standing at the Fresno State Invitational, held Oct. 6-7, when it tallied 857 points to finish between the aforementioned UCLA (1,207 pts) and WSU (766 pts) squads.
 
The Aztecs swept all three conference weekly honors following that meet on Oct. 10, as Meredith Smithbaker garnered Mountain West Swimmer of the Week accolades and Valentina Lopez Arevalo received Diver of the Week distinction, joining Reka Nyiradi, who earned Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season.
 
Smithbaker posted three individual top-five finishes at the Fresno State Invite, highlighted by a victory in the 50 freestyle with a season-fast time of 23.06. The Aztec junior also recorded season bests in the 100 freestyle (51.04) and 100 breaststroke (1:02.40), placing third and fifth in those races, respectively.
 
In addition, Smithbaker led off SDSU’s second-place 200 freestyle relay team that combined for a 1:33.59 clocking, which was tops among MW schools in the event. Similarly, the Fort Collins, Colorado, product anchored the Aztecs’ fourth-place 400 medley relay team that logged a time of 3:46.81, which was best among league squads in that competition as well. She also swam on two other SDSU relays that finished in the top five, including the 400 freestyle (4th) and 200 medley (5th).
 
Similarly, Lopez Arevalo is off to a brilliant start this season, capturing four event titles and recording two additional top-four finishes in three different meets earlier in the year.
 
Lopez Arevalo claimed three overall crowns during the weekend of Sept. 29-30 in a dual-meet win at Cal Poly and a double dual victory over Cal Poly and Fresno Pacific. The Aztec junior emerged triumphant in the 1-meter (283.58) and 3-meter springboard (303.45), both of which were NCAA Zone qualifying scores, as the Aztecs rolled past Cal Poly 150-135 on Sept. 29.
 
The following day, she took home another title on the 1-meter board in the double-dual vs. Cal Poly and Fresno Pacific with a season-best 287.10 pts and finished second in the 3-meters (277.88), helping the Aztecs defeat the Mustangs 128-71 and the Sunbirds 132-38.
 
At the Fresno State Invite, Lopez Arevalo won the 3-meter springboard for the third time this fall with a season-best 312.80 points, which marked another NCAA Zone qualifying score. She also finished fourth on the 1-meter board with 254.80 pts, which represented the top score among 12 conference competitors in the event.
 
Meanwhile, Nyiradi ranked second among Mountain West participants and finished 13th overall at the Fresno State Invite with 46 points scored, trailing only Smithbaker’s 50 points.
 
Nyiradi posted four top-six individual placements, featuring a fourth-place swim of 2:02.99 in the 200 fly, which was the top MW effort in that event. She also contributed to a pair of fourth-place relay teams, leading off the Aztecs’ 800 free relay (7:34.05) before swimming the butterfly segment of SDSU’s 400 medley relay (3:46.81).
 
Since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, San Diego State has competed in 14 regular-season invitational meets and has not finished outside of the top three during that span, logging four first-place performances, eight second-place efforts and a pair of third-place results.
 
Following this week’s meet, select San Diego State swimmers will compete in the U.S. Open, Nov. 29-Dec. 2, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Meanwhile, Aztec divers will head up the freeway that same weekend for the Riverside Diving Invitational, Dec. 1-2.
 
After breaking for final exams, SDSU’s full squad reconvenes for a dual meet against Air Force in its home opener on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at Aztec Aquaplex, starting at 10 a.m. PT.