In front of former Wildcat swimmers, a crowd full of parents and two opposing coaches with ties to the university, the No. 4 Arizona men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened up their seasons with a victory over Wisconsin.
The women (1-0) beat the Badgers’ No. 16 squad (0-1) 166-128, while the men (1-0) took down an unranked Wisconsin team (0-1) 172-116.
“”It was a good first meet,”” said UA head coach Frank Busch. “”First meets are always fun to see what we’re doing and we how we can do it. I really like the atmosphere our teams have.””
Among the Wildcats’ women individual winners were senior Jacquelyn Craft in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.55) junior Lara Jackson in 50y freestyle (22.70) redshirt junior Courtney Cashion in the 100y freestyle (50.51) and sophomores Annie Chandler in the 100y breaststroke (1:01.96) and Ana Agy in the 100y butterfly (55.03).
On the men’s side, senior Darian Townsend recorded wins in the 100y (44.83) and 200y freestyle (1:37.47). Also with two wins was freshman Cory Chitwood, in both the 100y (50.20) and 200y backstroke (1:49.83).
Other winners for the men
included senior Matt Biel in the 1,000y freestyle (9:28.68), juniors Nicholas Nilo in the 50y freestyle (20.70) and Josh Arreguin in the 200y breaststroke (2:04.79) and sophomore Marcus Titus in the 100y breaststroke (56.19).
Despite great success, Busch said the teams still have some kinks to work out as they prepare to host USC’s No. 13 men’s team and No. 15 women’s team Friday.
“”We have to try and win,”” Busch said. “”We want to win, and the only way to do that is to get better. Our teams are pretty focused on being the best that they can be. I really like our attitude.””
In the diving well
The women’s diving squad also saw success, with senior Holly Kast winning the 1-meter competition, while junior Allison Scaife finished first in the 3m and second in the 1m.
For the men, senior Matt Bisordi recorded two first-place finishes in both the 1m and 3m.
Freshman Ben Grado finished second place in the 3m.
