DENTON, Texas (10/8/08) - North Texas Swimming & Diving travels to College Station on Friday, October 10 to take on Texas A&M and Rice. On Saturday, the squad competes against the Houston Cougars in Houston.
These will be the first three dual meets of the season for the Mean Green.
North Texas swimming head coach, Joe Dykstra, talked about the upcoming meets this weekend.
"This will be a great chance for us to step as a team," said Dykstra. "Texas A&M is a Top 5, maybe Top 3 school in the country. Rice had a big incoming class like we did and there's an opportunity for us to redeem ourselves against Houston for just finishing behind them at the North Texas Relays."
Texas A&M, Rice, and Houston all finished the '07-08 season ranked in the NCAA Top 40. The Aggies finished at No. 4, the Owls at No. 39, and the Cougars at No. 28.
Texas A&M posted a 9-1 dual record in '07-08 winning the Big 12 Conference for the second straight year advancing to NCAA Championships. North Texas took on the Aggies last year on October 27 in Denton. The sixth-ranked Texas A&M squad prevailed 184-112. The Mean Green has never defeated the Aggies in dual meet competition.
Texas A&M also had two swimmers, Kristen Heiss and Christine Marshall, named to the 2008-09 USA National team.
Another team North Texas has never beaten is the Rice Owls. Rice went 10-4 in '07-08 and finished second in Conference USA qualifying for the NCAA Championships. The Mean Green competed against the Owls last season on January 19 in Denton. Rice won, 154-134.
The third and final team North Texas takes on this weekend is the Houston Cougars. The Mean Green has already met the Cougars this season back on October 3 at the North Texas Relays. It was a tight race for third between the two schools, but Houston beat out North Texas, 70-66.
Houston had an '07-08 record of 9-8 placing fourth at the Conference USA Championships advancing to the NCAA Championships. The Mean Green and the Cougars faced each other last season in Denton on January 18 where North Texas picked up its first ever dual meet victory over Houston, 133-110.
During the meet, Mean Green swimmer, Nicole Leslie, set the school's all-time record in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 23.75.
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