DENTON – The Mean Green swimming & diving team opens the 2018-19 season with the annual North Texas Relays at 4 p.m. Friday at the Pohl Recreation Center.

The exhibition meet will include Little Rock and the men's and women's teams from Oklahoma Baptist competing in 10 various relay events.

Head coach Brittany Roth enters her third season at the helm of the program, and assistant coach Rachel Friel also begins her third year with the team. Mark Murdock returns for his fourth season as the head diving coach.

The Mean Green, who matched their highest finish (fourth) at the Conference USA Championship a year ago, return 12 letterwinners and 12 top performances out of 17 individual events. Roth added 12 newcomers to round out the roster.

UNT posted two podium finishes at the conference championship in the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay, earning all-conference honors for seven Mean Green swimmers. The relay success continued as the 200-yard medley relay team of Jowita Sienczyk, Sarah Vaisse, Meredith Manry and Brittany Thurstin broke a five-year-old program-record with a time of 1:40.79.

Thurstin also set a program record in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in at 22.99 in the opening leg of a 200-yard freestyle relay time trial at the Conference USA Championship. She showcased her versatility by placing fifth in the 100-yard butterfly at the C-USA Championship with a team-best time of 55.16.

Sophomores Leigh Faires McGee and Meghan Miller are coming off impressive rookie seasons as McGee posted the team's fastest times in the 100-, 200-, 500-, 1000- and 1650-yard freestyle events and Miller swept the top individual scores in all three diving events.

Accounting for six all-time top-10 times in five events, McGee set the program record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.08 in the opening leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay. She accounted for 13 victories across five events.

Miller finished ninth in both the one- and three-meter dives at the C-USA Championship with scores of 241.20 and 254.25, respectively, and sixth in the platform dive with a score of 191.45. She finished the year among the top-10 performers in program history in all three events.

North Texas begins the regular season with a dual meet at Little Rock at 11 a.m. Oct. 6, at the Donaghey Aquatic Center.