The Student News Site of University of Arizona

The Daily Wildcat

97° Tucson, AZ

The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

    2 current ‘Cats named to U.S. national team

    After winning the program’s first national championship last year, the accolades just keep pouring in for the Arizona women’s swim team.

    Two current members, senior Lara Jackson and junior Annie Chandler, have been selected to the 2008-09 USA Swimming National Team.

    To be eligible for the squad, the athletes must have one of the six best times in events swum at either the 2008 Olympic Games, 2008 Olympic Trials and/or the 2008 U.S. Open.

    Jackson recorded the second-fastest time in the 50-meter freestyle at 24.50 seconds in Beijing and is one of the Wildcats’ best 50-yard freestyle swimmers of all time.

    Chandler posted a time of 1:08.02 in the 100-meter backstroke at the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. She is an eight-time All-American and three-time individual NCAA champion.

    Jackson and Chandler will have some familiar faces on Team USA as they join former Wildcat swimmers Lacey Nymeyer and Whitney Myers.

    Nymeyer, who is still a student at the UA but cannot compete because she has used up her four years of eligibility, won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics as a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay team and posted qualifying times in the 50m and 100m freestyle.

    Myers, whose last season swimming for Arizona was 2007 and was named the NCAA woman of the year, touched in at 2:12.07 in the 100m breaststroke at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

    More to Discover
    Activate Search