PonyFans.com

SMU Hosts the 24th Annual Dallas Morning News Classic This Weekend!

The SMU Mustangs Swimming and Diving teams will take on top programs Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, Northwestern, and Washington in the Dallas Morning News Classic this weekend.

Come support the Mustangs as they begin the meet Fri and Sat. night at 7:30pm at Perkins Natatorium. Follow the meet online at smumustangs.com for LIVESTATS.

Thanks for the post:

Go Mu Sigma Delta! (Mustang Swimmers & Divers)

So what kind of attendance to we get at the swimming meets? I have never been but just might wander over to the natatorium one of these days.

Does anyone else see the irony of the Dallas Morning News sponsoring an athletic event at SMU?

If the DMN is sponsoring the event, I hope they GAVE SOME ACTUAL MONEY to the athletic department. I'm glad they wrote that story on Ian Clark that's on this site's home page from a few days ago, but that's not a sponsorship -- that's doing a job the paper should be doing anyway.

I hope they will do more - they had a photographer at the meet today - although not yesterday. It was a close race after yesterday between the top 3 - but northwestern and florida broke out tonight. It was a lot of fun though. If you have ever been in the natatorium...the right side was almost completely full. and the men swimmers that weren't swimming started a red-blue SMU chant during the final relay
(which happens to be our strongest). all and all it was a good time. it was fun meeting/hanging out with the other swimmers.
(yes there was an smu after party...but smu was nice enough to invite the competition to the party...gotta show them a good southern time!!)

ponygirl08 wrote:I hope they will do more - they had a photographer at the meet today - although not yesterday. It was a close race after yesterday between the top 3 - but northwestern and florida broke out tonight. It was a lot of fun though. If you have ever been in the natatorium...the right side was almost completely full. and the men swimmers that weren't swimming started a red-blue SMU chant during the final relay
(which happens to be our strongest). all and all it was a good time. it was fun meeting/hanging out with the other swimmers.
(yes there was an smu after party...but smu was nice enough to invite the competition to the party...gotta show them a good southern time!!)

Thanks PG08, for the post. Perkins Natatorium with a crowd can be very exciting experience. BTW, at capacity it can seat 5,000 and, when a thousand are there, it rocks. 3rd is an excellent result against a strong field. Many past and future Olympians in the pool. Great tradition, but we do need a new Aquatic Center for our Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Teams.

Go Mustangs!

A new center is for sure needed! Perkins is very personal - so they should keep it small(even the other teams talk about how much they like it) but when you are there you shouldn't feel like its about to cave in on you! And especially with some of the AMAZING freshman and transfers...we need to give them some inspiration to kick some [deleted] - cause I know they can and do amazing things in the process! Can't wait for the next meet!

What were the final standings?

1. Florida 342.5
2. Northwestern 331
3. SMU 294
4. Florida State 245
5. Notre Dame 222.5
6. Washington 221

As much as we need a new natatorium, I will hate to see use lose Perkins. I remember way back attending a dual meet against Indiana U. They had a phenomenal dual meet win streak coming into the meet. Perkins was packed, the band was present. The meet went back and forth all night until the last relay. SMU won the relay and the meet to end IU's streak. Anybody else go to that meet? The crowd and the noise played a big part in our win. I hope that if we get a new natatorium we can somehow duplicate the atmosphere. I have seen meets in other places (including UT) and nothing will ever match Perkins for the noise.

What year are you talking about (for SMU beating the Hoosiers)?

I think that I was in high school, so it would be around 72-74 or so. I am tryintg to recall if Jerry Heidenreich was swimming for SMU then, but I can't remember.

My freshman year the swim team had a meet against #1 ranked USC, Paul Titze anchored our relay team to a come from behind vicotry. The place went nuts. Perkins looks old, but it is one of the best pools for the students to come to and cheer. And it creates a real home pool advantage. From what swimmers tell me though, Perkins is a "slow" pool and UT has a "fast" pool. What this means is that it is harder for our swimmers to get qualifying times at home meets than for UT swimmers to get qualifying times at home meets. This means less potential points at the NCAA tournament.

In my post I wasn't saying we need to get rid of the homey feel of perkins...I think it is a great natatorium, but they do need a better pool. I think they should just updated the place - keep it the same size and feel, just lay out a new pool and maybe get some new smu flags to hang around the place.