Najdanovski Leads 7 Mustang Swimmers At World Championships

[PonyPride]

Najdanovski Places 17th, Leads Seven Mustang Swimmers At World Championships
Seven Mustangs Compete, Steve Collins Coaches Slovakian Team

Aug. 3, 2009

ROME (SMU) - Future SMU freshman Miroslava Najdanovski and SMU assistant coach Martina Moravcova led a group of seven current and former Mustang swimmers at the FINA World Championships last week.

Najdanovski, a Serbian who will be a member of Steve Collins squad this fall, was the highest placing competitor of the SMU swimmers, posting a 25.21 to finish 17th in the 50m freestyle, missing the semifinals by a mere two-hundredths of a second. She also finished 24th in the 100m freestyle with a 55.45.

Moravcova, a two-time Olympic-medalist from Slovakia, swam in three events, competed in three events with a high-finish of 28th in the 50m freestyle with a time of 25.63. She also finished 29th in the 50m backstroke with a 29.12, and her 26.80 in the 50m butterfly was good enough for 31st in the world.

Former Mustangs Petra Klosova and Sara Nordenstam also continued their swimming career on the international stage. Nordenstam, a 2008 Olympic-medalist, competed in three individual events, and led Norway's 4x100-m medley relay team to an 18th place finish, swimming a 1:10.54 in the second leg.

In her individual races, it was the elder Mustang out-performing the younger swimmers who currently carry the torch at her alma mater. Nordenstam's 2:27.55 was the 22nd best time in the 200m breaststroke, nearly two seconds ahead of Raminta Dvariskyte's 29th place 2:29.40. Nordenstam also beat Dvariskyte by eight spots in the 100m breaststroke, posting a 36th place 1:09.69 to the 44th place 1:10.63 of the Lithuanian. In the 200m individual medley, Nordenstam finished 35th with a 2:16.96, nearly three seconds ahead of Maroua Mathlouthi's 45th place 2:19.55.






Klosova led the Czech Republic 4X100m medley relay team to a 15th place finish, swimming a 55.15 in the anchor leg for a heat victory. She also finished 27th in the 100m breaststroke with a 1:01.83, 43rd in the 100m freestyle with a 56.34 and 45th in the 50m freestyle with a 26.06.
Dvariskyte, a sophomore at SMU, led the Lithuanian team to a 22nd place finish in the 4x100m medley relay with a 1:09.97 in the second leg and a 23rd place finish in the 4x100m freestyle relay with a 1:00.71 in the third leg. She also swam a 32.53 in the 50m breaststroke to finish 44th.

Mathlouthi, a junior from Tunisia, swam a 5:00.95 in the 400m individual medley to finish 36th, and her 54th place 2:06.23 in the 200m freestyle was just over three seconds behind fellow Mustang Sascha Van den Branden's 40th place 2:03.01.

Van den Branden, a junior at SMU, led the Belgium team to a 17th place finish in the 4x100m freestyle relay with a 56.49 in the second leg.

The international competition lasted eight days, from July 26 to Aug. 2, and featured a total of eight Mustangs competing in 13 different events, including head coach Steve Collins, who coached the Slovakian National Team.