Swimming dominates Kansas, cruises to victory in opener

Arizona women’s swimming started the 2011-12 season off with a bang Saturday at Hillenbrand Stadium against the Kansas Jayhawks, winning 13 out of 14 events. The meet could not have gone much better, said head coach Eric Hansen.

“The whole group really swam well. We executed well, and showed up strong,” he said.

Sophomore Margo Geer and senior Alyssa Anderson won seven events combined. Geer won individually in the 50-meter freestyle, 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle along with the 200m freestyle relay. Anderson won the 1000m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 500m freestyle.
Of the four races Geer won, the most impressive was the 100m freestyle in which she recorded a time of 24.08 seconds, the top time nationally.

Despite that, she and the rest of the team are focused on a larger goal.

“I need to keep it up,” Geer said. “I’m not going to let that go to my head. It’s still very early.”

In practices this week, the coaching staff stressed the importance of the relay teams and how they were going to impact the season. They were not disappointed Saturday, as the relay teams won both the 200m medley relay and the 200m freestyle relay, something Hansen was especially proud of.

“It shows what we’re capable of, and that we have the personnel,” he said. “It’s exciting to see.”

The swim team started the season strong, but Hansen is worried about the long term.

“Nothing matters until the last meet of March,” he said. “The goal is to decrease our mistakes as we get further into the season. I’m impressed with the team and how everybody’s settled into their role.”

—Cameron Moon

Women’s cross-country places first in Goodyear, men’s team takes second place

The Arizona women’s cross-country team won the Grand Canyon Invitational on Saturday with six of its seven runners finishing in the top 10, while the men came in second place behind ASU.

Senior Hanna Henson came in first place for the women, followed by freshmen Nicci Corbin and Clea Formaz in second and third place, respectively.

Junior Rory McLeod was the men’s top runner this weekend, finishing in seventh place.

He was followed by freshman Dylan Souza, who earned ninth place overall. A total of six runners competed for the Arizona men’s team while the rest of the team trained. The men’s team overall has shown progress and came in second place in the 8,000-meter race after ASU.

“The race was great and the girls that did not compete had an awesome workout in preparation for next week,” junior Megan Meyer said. “We are all ready to score some major points at Wisconsin on Friday.”

Top runners from both teams spent the weekend training with drills such as 1,200m repeats on Friday and 90-minute runs on Saturday.

The Wildcats will be competing in one of the biggest meets of the year, the Wisconsin adidas Invitational in Madison, Wisc., this Friday.

—Emi Komiya

M-tennis impresses at N.M. invitational

A developing Arizona men’s tennis team traveled to Albuquerque, N.M., this past weekend to earn valuable experience in the 2011 Balloon Fiesta Invitational, hosted by the University of New Mexico.

“We brought a young group of guys,” said head coach Tad Berkowitz. “It was a productive tournament and the guys are definitely progressing in the right direction.”

On Sunday, freshman Robin Chou fell short in the three-set match of the Flight B singles finals to Alex Grubbs from US Air Force Academy 6-2, 4-6, 7-6. Chou defeated NAU’s Rob Martin in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-1, and he was the only Wildcat to advance to the finals on Sunday after beating NAU’s Josh Brown with final scores of 6-4, 6-1.

Fellow freshman Carlos Bermudez advanced to the Flight A quarterfinals after defeating Steven Young from the US Air Force Academy in the round of 16 play 6-2, 6-2.

He then defeated Landon Kinsley from the U.S. Air Force Academy in the quarterfinals of the Flight A singles play 6-2, 6-3. However in the semifinals, Bermudez fell short to Ben Dunbar from New Mexico with scores of 7-5, 6-1.

In the semifinals of Flight B singles play, junior Frank Chen lost to Alex Grubbs from the U.S. Air Force Academy 6-1, 6-1.

In doubles play, Bermudez and Chen lost in the semifinals to Rob Pezzuto and Shaun Waters of NAU with a final score of 8-4.

— Iman Hamdan