Not rain, sleet nor snow could have slowed down the No. 3 Arizona men’s swim team or No. 4 women’s team in California this weekend.
In spite of the nasty weather conditions against the California Golden Bears (No. 11 men and No. 5 women) Friday and the gloomy day against Stanford on Saturday (No. 2 men, No. 3 women), the Wildcats still showed that they’re going to be a tough group to beat.
UA head swimming coach Frank Busch said he has never seen it that cold and that much water coming down, but the team handled the elements extremely well.
“”Just the way the kids came out and started the meets off, it looked like it was gonna be our day,”” Busch said. “”We had some really solid performances and some really great swims out there.””
Saturday against Stanford, the men’s team book ended its 184-114 victory with wins in the 400-yard medley relays and 400y freestyle relays to go with eight out of 12 individual event wins. Senior Albert Subirats led they way with wins in the 100y backstroke, 50y freestyle and an NCAA record time of 46.69 in the 100y butterfly – 0.42 seconds better than the eight-year-old record.
“”It just seemed like the whole team was better prepared mentally for this weekend,”” senior Darian Townsend said. “”All the coaches did a good job of getting the team together and preparing for the meet.””
The women did fall 126-174, but got a handful of standout performances. Junior Hailey DeGolia set a pool record in the 100y backstroke with a time of 53.76 – 0.1 seconds faster than the previous record. Senior Lacey Nymeyer won three events (100y, 200y, and 500y freestyle) and sophomore Annie Chandler won the 100y breaststroke to go along with a third place finish in the 200y breaststroke.
“”I don’t think Stanford has ever been handled like that in their own pool,”” Busch said. “”Our guys did a great job. We have two good teams. I can’t make up any stories and excuses (about how they performed) and I’m very proud to be their coach.””
Final Lap
The men’s and women’s swim and diving teams also showed well this weekend. UA senior Matt Bisordi won the 3m (352.88) and finished second in the one meter behind UA freshman Ben Grado (330.38) who also took third in the 3m. Against Cal, Grado won the 3m (370.12) and took second in the 1m.
On the women’s side, junior Allison Scaife took fourth in the 1m diving and 3m diving against Stanford. Senior Holy Kast won the 1m (255.3) and took fourth in the 3m against Cal and finished third in the 1m against Stanford.
“”I think team, overall, did good job,”” UA head diving coach Michele Mitchell said. “”Stanford and Cal traditionally have always been tough to beat, especially on the road. The whole team did a good job of focusing on the task at hand and did what they needed to do to get it done.””
