March 4, 2008

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Two San Diego State student-athletes, senior Katie Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) and sophomore Amy Freeberg (Pasadena, Calif.), were named to the all-Mountain West Conference swimming and diving team for their performances at the 2008 championship meet last week, the league office announced Tuesday. Smith was also an all-conference selection in 2007, while it is the first such award for Freeberg.

Smith garnered accolades in the 100 backstroke after placing sixth at the title meet for the second straight year. In the finals, she clocked in with a personal-best 57.72, which stands as the fourth-fastest time in SDSU history. Smith also holds the Aztecs' top marks of the season in the 200 individual medley, as well as the 100 and 200 backstroke, and finishes her stellar four-year career ranked among the top five in the latter two events.

Freeberg earned her all-conference selection by finishing fifth with a career-high point total of 207.05 in the platform diving event. She was SDSU's only representative in the finals after a second-place showing in the preliminaries (203.35). Freeberg, who was the first Aztec to ever compete in the platform event at the MWC championships last season, improved on her 10th-place showing from a year ago.

This marks the first time since 2004 that San Diego State has earned multiple all-conference selections in the same season.

The Aztec swimming and diving team closed out the 2007-08 campaign in eighth place at the MWC championships, marking the program's best finish since 2002. Three individuals, Caitlin Atkinson, Megan Flanagan and Kristen Maurer, will extend their seasons at the NCAA Zone E Diving Regionals, March 13-15, in Oklahoma City, Okla.