Wildcats Host Tri-Meet Against Northwestern and Washington

This Week in the Pool ?-The No. 4 Arizona men’s and women’s swimming and diving team will host the University of Washington and Northwestern University in a tri-meet on Jan.14^th and 15th at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Competition will begin at 2 p.m. (MST) on Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.

A Look at the Opponents- The Northwestern men’s team is currently ranked 15^th with a 2-2 overall record (1-2 Big Ten). The Wildcats recently completed competition at the U.S. Open in San Antonio, Texas where sophomore Mike Alexandrov won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:03.57. The women’s team holds a record of 4-2 over all (1-2 Big Ten) as they recently defeated No. 23 Tennessee 184-167 on Jan. 8, which is their second dual meet victory over a ranked opponent this season. The Washington men’s team comes to Tucson with a 6-2 overall record. The Huskies fell to No.22 Brigham Young University 161-101. The Washington women’s team are 8-1 overall (1-1 Pac-10) with a recent 157-97 victory over UC San Diego.

Last Time in the Water ?- The Arizona women’s swim team defeated the Oregon State Beavers 143-118 on Jan. 7 maintaining an undefeated record of 4-0 overall (3-0 Pac-10). The men’s team hosted The University of British Columbia in an exhibition meet defeating the Thunderbirds 149-108.

The women’s team finished first in nine events beginning with the 400y medley relay team of junior Jenna Gresdal, sophomore Emily Strouse, sophomore Whitney Myers and junior Ryann Hackett winning the race with a time of 3:49.68. Myers also won the 400y individual medley (4:25.57) and placed third in the1000y freestyle (10:29.37). Gresdal finished first in the 200y freestyle with a time of 1:53.17 and freshman Courtney Cashion placed second (1:54.01).

Senior Jessica Hayes won the 100y backstroke with a time of 49.60 and junior Erin Sieper won the 100y breaststroke (1:04.45). Sieper also finished first in the 200y breaststroke (2:19.95) and Senior Emily Mason finished first in the 200y butterfly with a time of 2:04.30. Gresdal was first in the 50y freestyle (23.56) and Hayes finished second (24.14).

In the 100y freestyle, the Wildcats took the top-three places as freshman Lacey Nymeyer finished first (51.25), Cashion finished second (51.47) and Strouse was third (53.56). In the 200y backstroke, Hackett finished second with a time of 2:10.78. Nymeyer finished second in the 500y freestyle (4:58.34) and Strouse was second in the 100y butterfly (59.63).

For the men’s team, the 400y medley relay team of freshman Nick Thoman, senior Nate Stevens, freshman Albert Subirats and junior Simon Burnett won with a time of 3:21.35. Freshman Matt Biel finished second in the 1000y freestyle with a time of 9:31.83 and in the 200y freestyle, senior Byron Jeffers finished first (1:42.91). Burnett finished first in three events including the 100y backstroke (49.60), the 50y freestyle (20.84), and the 500y freestyle (4:35.14).

Junior Lyndon Ferns finished first in the 100y freestyle (45.12) and sophomore Adam Ritter was second (46.61) with junior Tyler DeBerry finishing third (47.55). Sophomore Nate Rothman finished second in the 200y backstroke with a time of 1:52.43. Freshman Ivan Barnes was also second in the 200y breaststroke (2:04.47) and freshman Albert Subirats finished first in the 100y butterfly (50.06). In the 400y individual medley, DeBerry finished second with a time of 4:05.73.

According to Head Coach Frank Busch ?- “We are probably as good as we can be at this time of year. In order to beat these two teams this week, we will have to swim a lot better than our last meet and get back into the swing of things.”

According to Head Diving Coach Michele Mitchell-Rocha ?- “Northwestern will definitely give our team good competition and this is a great opportunity to compete against a good team, especially since we are just coming off of Christmas break. This is a good time to get back into competitive shape and this meet will be a good warm up for the up-coming meets against Cal and Stanford next week.”

Individual Rankings (Top-Five)

Women:

Event Name Rank Time

50 Free Jenna Gresdal 2^nd 22.52

100 Free Lacey Nymeyer 3^rd 48.80

Jenna Gresdal 4^th 48.96

200 Free Emily Mason 1^st 1:46.26

Whitney Myers 3^rd 1:46.61

500 Free Emily Mason 1^st 4:40.51

100 Back Jenna Gresdal 2^nd 53.68

200 Back Jessica Hayes 4^th 1:55.93

100 Breast Erin Sieper 2^nd 1:01.16

200 Breast Erin Sieper 2^nd 2:11.29

100 Fly Whitney Myers 1^st 52.89

200 Fly Emily Mason 2^nd 1:55.40

Whitney Myers 4^th 1:56.11

200 IM Whitney Myers 1^st 1:58.38

400 IM Whitney Myers 2^nd 4:13.73

Emily Strouse 3^rd 4:15.50

Emily Mason 4^th 4:15.72

200 Free Relay 1^st 1:30.55

400 Free Relay 1^st 3:17.55

400 Medley Relay 3^rd 3:38.47

Men:

50 Free Simon Burnett 1^st 19.28

Lyndon Ferns 2^nd 19.43

100 Free Lyndon Ferns 1^st 42.57

Simon Burnett 2^nd 42.90

200 Free Simon Burnett 1^st 1:32.22

Lyndon Ferns 3^rd 1:34.62

Tyler DeBerry 4th 1:35.06

500 Free Tyler DeBerry 5^th 4:18.07

1650 Free Tyler DeBerry 4^th 15:10.52

100 Breast Dave Rollins 5^th 54.18

200 Breast Nate Stevens 3^rd 1:57.56

Dave Rollins 4^th 1:57.56

100 Fly Lyndon Ferns 1^st 46.04

200 IM Dave Rollins 3^rd 1:45.52

200 Free Relay 1^st 1:18.49

400 Free Relay 3^rd 2:56.71

200 Medley Relay 1^st 1:27.51

400 Medley Relay 1^st 3:10.84

Recruits for 2005-06 ?- Six athletes have signed letters of intent with the Arizona swim team for the 2005-06 season. Justine Schluntz, from Albuquerque, NM., will swim distance freestyle events and the 400 individual medley. Taylor Baughman, from Carmel, Ind., and Lindsey Kelly, from Lake Forrest, Ill., are strong contenders in the sprint freestyle events. Anna Turner, from Ft. Collins, Colo., will be competitive in the sprint freestyle and a backstroke events and Kathryn Thompson, from Roseburg, Ore., will also swim backstroke and freestyle. The one male swimmer to sign with Arizona, Matt Barnard from Tucson, Ariz., will swim sprint freestyle events.

Arizona’s Next Action ?- The Wildcats will be back in the water on Fri., Jan. 21 when they host the California Golden Bears at 2 p.m. (MST) in the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.

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Wildcats Host Tri-Meet Against Northwestern and Washington

According to Head Coach Frank Busch ?- “We are probably as good as we can be at this time of year. In order to beat these two teams this week, we will have to swim a lot better than our last meet and get back into the swing of things.”

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