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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Swimming and Diving Gears Up For Toshiba Classic
11/17/2009 12:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 17, 2009
THIS WEEK
The University of Utah swimming and diving team will head to Long Beach, Calif., for the Toshiba Classic Thursday through Saturday at Belmont Plaza Olympic pool. The Utes will take on some of the top teams in the west, including Stanford, Hawaii and California.
LAST WEEK
The Utah women's swimming and diving team went undefeated at home on Nov. 7 at Ute Natatorium when it hosted New Mexico, Boise State and Seattle. The final scores for the meet were Utah over Boise State, 162-137, over Seattle, 234-53, and defeated New Mexico, 216-83. The Utah men also earned a win by finishing ahead of Seattle, 186.5-87.5.
Sophomore Hannah Caron (Raleigh, N.C.) got the first win for the Utes, finishing first in the 200 free with her time of 1:53.06. Senior Beth Gunderson (Portland, Ore.) and junior Maiya Otsuka (Littleton, Colo.) immediately followed with wins in the 100 back (58.82) and the 100 breast (1:06.90), respectively.
Otsuka led the Utes with three individual first-place finishes on the day, finishing first in the 200 breast (2:21.55) and dramatically out-touching the competition in the 400 IM (4:34.89). Caron won two individual events overall, finishing first in the 100 fly (56.11) in addition to her win in the 200 free.
Junior Kwan Ling Yu (Yuen Long, Hong Kong) qualified for the NCAA Zone Regional meet, and got career highs with her scores in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Yu finished first in the 3-meter with her score of 308.35 and was second in the 1-meter with a score of 273.70.
The Utah men finished first in 14 of 16 events overall. Senior John Baque (Olympia, Wash.) was the top finisher in three events for the day, finishing first in the 100 breast (58.68), the 200 breast (2:08.20) and the 100 fly (52.12). Sophomore Eric Bonicelli (Overland Park, Kan.) finished first in two individual events, the 200 fly (1:55.03) and the 400 IM (4:10.98). Freshman Ryan Hansen (Pewaukee, Wis.) also finished first in two events, the 1000 free (9:47.18) and the 500 free (4:41.63).
LAST MEETING
This is the first time that Utah has been to the Toshiba Classic.
The last time the Utes competed in a prestigious invitational meet the men and women combined for five new school records and five NCAA `B' standards at the Princeton Invitational. The Utah women's swimming and diving team earned a second-place finish and the Utah men's team took third place at Princeton, with junior Natalie Edge (South Jordan, Utah) being honored as the Most Inspiratinal Athlete of the meet.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Greg Winslow
"This is one of the biggest invites in the country. It'll be exciting to see what our young team can do."
"Major Robinson is really ready to have a great weekend. Natalie Edge has looked sharper this week in the pool than she has all season. Her and Hannah Caron will be pushed by the competition this week."
"Stanford is one of the best teams in the country for both men and women. The California women's team is top 10 as well. We'll look watch to see how our younger athletes do against tough competition in so many events in what is the first big championship meet for many of them."
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Stanford come into the 2009-10 season after finishing in third place overall at the NCAA Dvision 1 national championship last season for the men. The men will also face Mountain West Conference pre-season second-place vot e getter BYU.
The women will be taking on the California, the defending National Champions, who are currently undefeated this season with wins against Fresno State and San Diego State. Stanford's women finished fourth overall at the national championships.
Other teams for the men: Air Force, Cal Baptist, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Sate Nortrhidge, Chapman, Hawaii, Soka, Stanford, UC San Diego and La Verne.
Other notable teams for the women: Air Force, Cal Baptist, Cal State Bakersfield, Fresno State, Hawaii, LMU, Neveda Reno, New Mexico, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Jose State, UC Davis, UCLA, and UC San Diego.
Players Mentioned
Freestyle/Butterfly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
IM/Fly/Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke/IM
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Freestyle
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
IM/Fly
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke/Free
/ Men's Swimming & Diving
Diving
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