Meet of the Week Preview: UNLV at Arizona State

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 17. THIS week commences the SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Meet of the Week program for collegiate swimming in the United States. This coming weekend, we will shine the spotlight on the UNLV at Arizona State meet as well as Southern Illinois at Drury. This article focuses on the UNLV/ASU match-up.

Date and Time: Friday, October 20, 2006, 5 p.m.
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Facility: Mona Plummer Aquatic Center

UNLV at a Glance:
As two-time defending conference champions, the men entered the season in second-place in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll. The men’s squad received two first place votes and 21 total, just two behind BYU (three first-place votes, 23 total). The Rebels did lose 2006 MWC Swimmer of the Year Joe Bartoch to graduation, but do return a very strong core of swimmers, led by Brandon Nelms, John Byers, Richard Hortness, Johan Claar and Jonas Andersson, who all teamed up to help the Rebels claim all five relay titles at the 2006 MWC Championships. The Rebel women received 43 votes including one first place vote to take third in the preseason conference poll. Two MWC champions return for the Rebels, junior Kim Bonney (200 breast – 2005), and sophomore Ana Dangalakova (400 IM – 2006), while sophomores Bailey Kuestermeyer and Amanda Weinbrecht also return for UNLV.

Looking forward with head coach Jim Reitz:
“It is always a great meet with Arizona State, and normally a humbling experience. The good thing is that Mike’s teams will be as beat up as ours. That training certainly levels the playing field. Our women don’t match up quite as good as the men. We just hope to give them an honest meet.”

Arizona State at a Glance:
During the Sun Devils’ latest action, a pair of All-American juniors Caitlin Andrew and Lucas Azevedo as well as NCAA qualifier junior CJ Nuess led ASU’s Gold squad to a win in the annual intrasquad meet. Nuess recorded three first-place finishes, winning the 1000 freestyle, the 400 IM and the 200 butterfly. Andrew placed first in the 50 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, and Azevedo won the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Newcomer junior Steve Neuwart had an impressive day in his first action for the Sun Devils, claiming victories in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Andrew, Azevedo and Neuwart each finished first in the only events in which they competed for the day. All-American sophomore Gal Nevo led the way in the 200 breaststroke, while sophomore Jen Beckberger and junior Emlynn Tursick paced the team in the 200 freestyle and the 200 backstroke, respectively. Freshmen Ante Cvitkovic and Ashley Evans also had victorious ASU debuts for the Gold team in the 200 backstroke and 200 IM, respectively.

Looking forward with head coach Michael Chasson:
“This is our first official meet of the year. We have a lot of new swimmers, and I am excited to see how they perform. We have had a history of close meets with UNLV on the men’s side, which will be exciting. This meet will help determine where our team is, in terms of training, and help the team focus as we enter a series of meets leading up to the end of the semester at the University of Texas Invite.”

Top 2006-07 Times Comparison
This is the first meet for both teams.

UNLV at Arizona State Meet of the Week Map

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