Men?s Swim and Dive Finish Third at NCAA Championships, Busch Named Swimming Coach of the Year
Minneapolis, Minn. ?- After three days of competition at the 2005 NCAA Championships, the men’s swimming and diving team finished third out of 56 teams with 388 points while tallying one national champion, 37 All-American honors and seven new school records. Head coach Frank Busch was also named co-swimming coach of the year along with Bob Groseth from Northwestern for the third time in his career.
Busch was last named head coach of the year in 2000 when the Wildcats competed in Minneapolis placing third with 360.5 points.
“This is the best team I have ever coached, the guys swam their hearts out,” said Busch. “I am overwhelmed at the outcome of this meet, what a great end to a great year. I am so proud of the team and the staff.”
Freshman Nick Thoman finished ninth in the 200-yard backstroke while breaking a second school record with a time of 1:42.65. Thoman broke the school record in the 100-yard backstroke yesterday with a time of 46.92. Junior Tyler DeBerry finished ninth in the 1650-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 15:01.18.
In the 100-yard freestyle, junior Lyndon Ferns finished third, breaking yet another school record with a time of 42.34 while junior Simon Burnett finished seventh in the race with a time of 42.83.
Junior Dave Rollins finished sixth overall in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:56.36 while freshman Ivan Barnes took 12th place with a personal best time of 1:57.88.
For the final event of the evening, the 400-yard free relay team of Ferns, Zandberg, Burnett and Ritter finished third, breaking the school record with a time of 3:50.58.
“I am so proud to be a part of this team,” said Nate Stevens, the only senior in to qualify for the national championships. “This has been the best four years of my life and Arizona will be in my heart forever.”
“My best memory of this team was about ten minutes ago on the podium with the best team ever to swim at the U of A.”
School Records Broken 200 IM Dave Rollins 1:44.42 1:46.25 (2004) 100 back Nick Thoman 46.92 47.20 (2000) 200 back Nick Thoman 1:42.65 1:42.70 (2002) 100 free Lyndon Ferns 42.34 42.40 (2003) 400 Medley Relay Zandberg/Barnes/Ferns/Burnett 3:07.57 3:10.65 (2004) 200 Medley Relay Thoman/ Rollins/Subirats/Zandberg 1:25.38 1:25.89 (2000) 400 Free Relay Ferns/Zandberg/Burnett/Ritter 2:50.58 2:52.65 (2002)
Event Name Time Old Time
