Arizona Starts New Year Off With a Splash

TUCSON, Arizona. January 7. THE fifth-ranked Arizona men and the No. 5 women’s swimming and diving teams began the New Year with victories over the University of Washington, Oregon State and Northern Arizona, maintaining perfect records on both sides.

The men (3-0, 2-0 Pac-10) downed Washington 145-116, while the women defeated No. 23 Washington 168-87, OSU 172-83 and NAU 201-93, boosting their record to 5-0 (4-0 Pac-10).

“As a group both teams performed well for their first meet after the break,” said head swimming coach Frank Busch. “We do so much swimming at a higher volume, that speed is not the focus here. As long as we can compete well at all times, no matter what the circumstances are, I feel pretty good about where we are headed.”

The men placed first in a total of five events beginning with the 200 medley relay team of senior Simon Burnett, sophomore Ivan Barnes, senior Lyndon Ferns and freshman Ryan Richardson (1:30.97). Freshman David Pursley finished second in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:34.02, while sophomore Matt Biel finished third (9:36.72). Senior Tyler DeBerry won the 200 freestyle (1:40.96) and junior Adam Ritter posted a first-place finish as well in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.48.

Barnes tallied another individual victory for the Wildcats in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.62, while Ferns finished third (57.29). Ferns later won the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.59.

Burnett finished first in he 100 freestyle with a time of 45.32 and in the 200 backstroke, senior Dave Rollins finished second (1:53.37), while junior Nate Rothman finished third (1:54.67). Freshman Josh Arreguin placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.43) while sophomore Bart Steninger finished third (2:10.66). In the 500 freestyle, Arizona provided three of the top-five swimmers as Biel finished second (4:37.50), Ritter finished third (4:37.85) and Burnett finished fifth.

Sophomore Albert Subirats won the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.13 and Ferns posted another individual victory in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:53.69, while DeBerry finished second (1:55. 90).

For the final swimming event, the 200 free relay team of Ritter, Subirats, Rollins and Burnett finished first with a time of 1:22.50.

On the women’s side, Arizona finished first in 14 events beginning with the 200 medley relay composed of seniors Jenna Gresdal, Erin Sieper, Lisa Pursley and junior Kathryn Elofson (1:44.56). Sophomore Lacey Nymeyer finished first in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:09.88. In the 200 freestyle, Gresdal finished first (1:51.97) and senior Katie Willis placed second (1:53.11).

Senior Marshi Smith won the 100 backstroke (57.27), while senior Ryann Hackett finished second (57.82). In the 100 breaststroke, Sieper finished first with a time of 1:04.72 and sophomore Jacquelyn Craft finished third (1:04.81). Nymeyer posted her second individual first-place finish in the 50 freestyle, winning with a time of 23.60, while freshman Taylor Baughman finished second (24.11).

Baughman later won the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.41 and Willis finished second (52.57). Gresdal tallied another first-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:59.61) and freshman Anna Turner placed second (2:08.91). Craft won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:19.51, while freshman Jessica Embick finished second (2:20.66).

Myers took the top position in the 500 freestyle (4:59.29) as well as the 200 individual medley (2:04.39) and Pursley also finished first in the 100 butterfly (55.80).

The women finished the competition with an exhibition heat of the 200 free relay composed of Nymeyer, Myers, Turner and Gresdal, who finished with a time of 1:48.88, which was fast enough to take first place.

In the diving, for the women, senior Tiffany Manning posted two of the Wildcats’ 14 first-place finishes by conquering both spring board events. She tallied 336.52 points in the 1-meter competition and 340.65 points in the 3-meter. Freshman Allison Scaife finished third in the 1-meter with 281.99 points.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Jan. 20-21 when they travel to Northern California to take on Pac-10 rivals Stanford and Cal. Competition will begin at 1 p.m. (PST) Friday, and 12 p.m. Saturday.

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