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Men's Swimming & Diving
vs Alumni Meet
Utah Ready to Compete Against Nation's Best At Princeton
11/26/2008 12:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 26, 2008
THIS WEEK
The Utah men's and women's swimming and diving teams are preparing to head to New Jersey for the Princeton Invitational Dec.5-7. The Utes will take on some of th top teams in the nation, like Florida and Princeton. The Gator men and women both finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships last season. The Princeton men and women both finished in the top 30. Also competing will be Brown University, Columbia, the Harvard diving team, Rider University and Rutgers.
The invitational will have a preliminary qualifiying round for each event. "With these preliminary qualifications for each event we'll see what kind of shape we're in and if our bodies can take it," said head coach Greg Winslow.
LAST WEEK
The Utah women's swimming and diving team won 12 out of 16 events on Saturday at UNLV, defeating the Rebels 179-121, while the men's team fell to UNLV, 196-98. Whitney Lopus (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Natalie Edge (So. Jordan, Utah) each finished in first place in three events. Edge came away with wins in the 50 free (24.06) and the 100 free (51.76), while Lopus placed first in the 200 free (1:50.43) and the 100 fly (54.97). Jen Fredsall (Kearns, Utah) took second (57.66) in the 100 fly and both were on Utah's winning 400 free relay team (3:28.54) with Annie VanLeeuwen (West Valley City, Utah) and Megan Raby (West Jordan, Utah).
Other first-place finishers for Utah were Beth Gunderson (Portland, Ore.) in the 100 back (57.67), Lauren Hewson (Estes Park, Colo.) in the 100 breast (1:05.80), Hannah Caron (Raliegh, N.C.) in the 200 fly (2:05.45) where fellow Utes Lopus (2:05.61) and Jana Willsey (Clearwater, Fla.)(2:08.59) finished in second and third place, respectively. Freshman Sarah Cox (Scottsdale, Ariz.) finished first in the 200 back (2:03.13) and Maiya Otsuka (Littleton, Colo.) in the 200 breast (2:20.94). Anna Braszkiewicz (Warsaw, Poland) continued her dominance on the 3-meter dive, remaining undefeated with a top score of 253.57.
On the men's side, Vlas Lezin (Kazan, Russia) was the lone first-place finisher for the Utah men's swimming and diving team. Lezin finished first in the 100 back (51.62) as well as second in the 200 fly (50.68). Adam Oliver (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored eight points for the Utah men's team, placing second in the 1000 free (9:26.06) and second in the 500 free (4:37.48). In the 100 breast event, John Baque (Olympia, Wash.) finished in second (57.41), less than a half a second behind the first-place finisher. Michel DeCarolis (Therwil, Switzerland) finished in third in the 100 breast (57.97) and Tim Leonhart (Fruita, Colo.) was fourth (1:02.48). The 200 breast also saw Baque in second (2:04.96) and DeCarolis in third (2:09.25) with Leonhart placing fourth (2:17.56).
UTE NOTES
This is the first competition that Utah has gone to with a preliminary qualifier this year and the first time that both men and women have ever faced Brown, Columbia, Florida, Harvard, Princeton, Rider or Rutgers in direct competition.
"This meet gives us the opportunity to swim against schools we never see. It will be a great measuring stick to see where we're at on our goal to be a national competitor," said Winslow.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The men and women from Florida appear to be the toughest competion for the Utes at the Princeton Invite. The Florida men have a record of 4-1, losing only to Michigan, who placed sixth at the NCAA Championship in 2008. The Gator women are 4-2 for the season. Standing out for the Gators is Laurabeth Guenthner, Gemma Spofforth and Bradley Ally. Guenthner currently has the seventh-best time in the nation this season in the 500 free (4:47.00) and the fourth-best time in the 1650 free for this season(16:09.76). Spofforth has the fifth-best time in the nation in the 200 back (1:55.96) and the sixth best time in the 100 back (53.84). Bradley Ally currenlty has the 10th best time in the 200 IM (1:48.03).
More tough competition will come from Princeton, who have both men's and women's undefeated on the season, with both at 2-0. The Rutgers women, who are also undefeated at 4-0, will give Utah some good competition
Players Mentioned
IM/Fly/Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke
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Free
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Backstroke/IM
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Breast
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IM/Fly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Fly/IM
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