LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Starting with the inaugural Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championship, the league has known only one champion.
At least this year, it is guaranteed two.
The Western Kentucky womens swimming and diving team will try for its fifth straight conference title this week, as the squad heads to Arkansas-Little Rock for the 2005 Aropostale Sun Belt Swimming and Diving Championships.
The event, which will take place Thursday through Saturday at UALRs Donaghey Center, will debut the leagues newest sport: Mens swimming and diving.
Tickets are available at the Donaghey Center, and the morning trial events will begin each day at 10:30 a.m.
Daily finals events will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
A total of eight womens teams and four mens teams will battle for the conference championship.
Judging by this seasons results, it should be an extremely tight race.
On the womens side, WKUs biggest threat will likely be Denver, which is ranked 10th in CollegeSwimming.coms mid-major power rankings.
The Pioneers have two of the top freestyle performers in the league. Junior Michaela Amereller has the leagues top time in the 100 and 200 freestyle. Sophomore Harmony Zeller, meanwhile, has posted the best result in the 1650 freestyle, while freshman Kelsey Totura sports the best mark in both the 100 and 200 backstroke.
Throw in butterfly and medley specialist Karen Iverson (Fr.), and the Pioneers seem to be set for a strong weekend.
However, the Lady Toppers have quite the team themselves. Cassie Fahrlender has the top time in the 100 breaststroke and is also a solid freestyle performer. A deep squad, WKU also boasts a swimmer and diver with a top-five Sun Belt mark in most events.
On the boards, Florida Atlantic, in its first year of Sun Belt swimming and diving competition, has some of the best in the league including freshmen Sam Schlachterman, Lisa Thompson, Chelsea Schulz and Jennifer Henderson.
Florida International, meanwhile, has 1-meter standout Megan Balkenbush.
On the mens side, the first year of competition will feature four teams (Denver, FAU, Louisiana-Monroe and WKU).
Top freestyle sprinters include ULMs Francisco Picasso and WKUs Jevon Atkinson, while WKUs Karl Swanson is one of the leagues best distance specialists.
Top diving competitors include WKUs Brett Molash, who has the most points in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events along with FAUs Nick McMahon and Molash teammate Andy Ray.