The No. 4 Arizona men’s and women’s swim teams cruised toward two victories over the weekend, as they dispatched UC-Irvine men’s and women’s teams and the women’s UCLA team Saturday at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center and both USC teams Friday.
The UA teams combined for 32 individual wins over the two days.
“”We’re in a pretty good place right now,”” said UA head swimming coach Frank Busch. “”This is a seasoned group and we’re trying to win a title. We just have to take it one meet at a time and perform to the best of our ability.””
Senior Albert Subirats had a great performance for the men (3-0, 1-0 Pacific 10 Conference), winning the 100-yard backstroke and 100y butterfly and helping the 400y freestyle relay and 200y medley relay teams to
victories Friday, but remained humble in his team’s achievements.
“”We’re far from perfect. There are a lot of small details that we can improve on,”” Subirats said. “”(This weekend) helped us prove to ourselves that we can still swim fast with little rest, which is big for us heading into the meet
in Texas.””
At the Texas Invitational in Austin from Nov. 29-Dec. 1, both teams will seek to qualify as many people as
possible for the NCAA National
Championships.
Senior Darius Townsend also turned in a good performance over the weekend, posting six wins, five individual.
“”We’re doing good right now, but we can only get faster,”” Townsend said. “”We need to fix those little things so we can get our times in for the NCAAs.””
The women’s team (4-0, 2-0) is looking at slow-motion film of their performances so everybody can fine-tune small details in their technique, said sophomore Jenny Forster, who won two events.
“”We need to feed off each other in practice and hold people accountable,”” she said. “”We’re doing a good job of that so far. We just have to keep this momentum going.””
Junior Taylor Baughman won the women’s 100y freestyle Friday and
finished second in four other events, in addition to being on two victorious relay teams.
“”It’s exciting to see times this low so far,”” Baughman said. “”After we get some rest, I really want to see how much farther we can take it when people are already swimming so fast.””
In the diving well
The men’s and women’s diving teams posted victories over USC on Friday and UCLA and UC Irvine on Saturday.
“”The men’s team is right where we’re hoping we’d be,”” said UA diving head coach Michelle Mitchell.
Senior Matt Bisordi is undefeated in his three competitions this season, winning this weekend’s 1- and 3-meter events by 20 and 50
points, respectively.
Bisordi is setting a great example for freshman Ben Grado and junior Craig Sheedy, Mitchell said.
“”Consistency is the name of the game in diving, and we’ve had a lot of good diving going on so far this year,”” Mitchell said of the men’s team.
The women’s team has lacked the consistency of the men’s squad but has done well enough to win, she said.
Saturday, UCLA diver Marisa Samaniego won both women’s events, but Arizona’s Allison Scaife, Holly Kast and Danielle Ridgway were not far behind, with the second-place finisher only 30 points behind each time.
“”This time of season, divers have to get competition to see where they need to be,”” Mitchell said. “”The training phase is over. Now it’s time to compete and see what we’re made of.””
