Conference Rivalries Highlight Action Packed Weekend

By Emily Sampl

BOULDER, Colorado, February 1. ON a weekend in which many schools honored their senior classes competing in their final home meets, intriguing matchups and heated rivalries made for an exciting weekend of college swimming and diving action. Here are a few highlights from some of the major meets the past three days.

The Pac-10 may have been the busiest conference this weekend, as California, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Arizona all competed. In a meet featuring two schools looking to finish among the top teams at men's and women's NCAA's in March, Arizona and Texas met in Tucson for a two-day dual. On the women's side, Ana Agy won three individual events and swam on three winning relays in her final home meet as a Wildcat. She touched first in the 200 back (1:57.81), 100 fly (53.87) and 100 back (54.49), and swam legs on the 200 free and 200 and 400 medley relays. Kathleen Hersey also posted three wins, in the 200 fly (1:57.98), 200 IM (1:59.48) and 400 IM (4:12.63). For the men, Jack Brown was victorious in the 200 (1:48.74) and 400 (3:54.55) IM, while Hill Taylor claimed the 100 fly and 100 back and Jackson Wilcox won the 500 and 1,650.

Stanford and USC raced in a close meet on Saturday, with the Cardinal coming out on top. Kate Dwelley picked up three wins for Stanford in the 50 (22.90), 100 (49.79) and 200 free (1:46.19), and teammate Julia Smit added victories in the 200 back (1:55.86) and 200 IM (1:56.41).

In SEC action, Tennessee and Florida squared off in Knoxville on Friday, with the Gators coming out ahead in both the men's and women's meet. The Gator women were led by Melanie Costa-Schmid (200 and 500 free) and Gemma Spofforth (100 and 200 back), who each won two individual events. For the Florida men, Conor Dwyer (100 free, 44.49 and 400 IM, 3:49.86), Balazs Gercsak (1,000 free, 9:15.22 and 500 free, 4:28.75), Marco Loughran (100 back, 47.92 and 200 back, 1:45.39) and Manny Rabelo (100 breast, 55.24 and 200 breast, 2:02.42) won two events apiece.

Georgia topped South Carolina and Alabama in tri-meet on Saturday. Several Bulldog swimmers finished with two victories, including Matt Bartlett (50 and 100 free), Mark Dylla (100 and 200 fly) and Erica Malagon (200 and 500 free).

Four Big Ten schools took part in the Big Ten Duals in Madison, Wisconsin; Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois and Minnesota competed. The Badger women had an outstanding meet, posting six pool records and winning all three of their duals. Ashley Wanland swam to an NCAA B cut in the women's 200 breast with a 2:12.15, and Maggie Meyer contributed to five of the six records with her 54.16 in the 100 back and 1:56.99 in the 200 back, while also swimming legs on several winning relays. Jillian Tyler of Minnesota had a solid 100 breast, winning the event in 1:00.85 for a pool record and NCAA B cut.

This weekend marked the end of many teams' dual meet schedules as they prepare for conference championship season, coming up in just a couple of weeks.

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