Arizona’s swimming and diving head coach Frank Busch created and executed his training regime with emphasis on the NCAA Championships.
The highly anticipated meet has come and passed, and the No. 7 women’s swimming and diving team came in fifth place at the NCAA Championships last week in Austin, Texas, at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
California took the national title with Georgia coming in second, Southern California in third and Stanford in fourth. Stanford placing ahead of Arizona came as a shock to many, considering the Cardinals’ training focuses on the Pacific 10 Conference Championships, as opposed to the NCAA’s.
Arizona’s finish makes it the eighth consecutive season that the women’s team finished among the top five teams in the country. Moreover, it’s the 14th occurrence within the last 15 years.
The meet marked Busch’s last of 21 seasons as women’s head coach, who made sure his team was trained to peak at the NCAA Championships.
There’s a common misconception that the entire team competes in this meet, however, swimmers must qualify throughout the season in order to race in the championships. This year, Busch took 11 swimmers and one diver.
Among the many standout swims, freshman Margo Geer accumulated many points for the Wildcats. Geer came in third for both the 50-yard and 100y freestyles.
Her preliminary time of 47.70 advanced her to No. 2 on Arizona’s school record list. She also had six individual All-American distinctions during the course of the three-day meet.
Junior captain Alyssa Anderson also stood out from the team by placing third overall in the 200y butterfly in 1:53.79 — her personal record. Anderson also came in third in the 500y freestyle.
Both Geer and Anderson also brought in points on the 400y freestyle relay team, along with freshmen Kait Flederbach and Sarah Denninghoff. The team placed fourth overall in the race.
Other relay placements for Arizona included the national runner-up 200y freestyle relay team consisting of freshmen Flederbach, Geer, Grace Finnegan and Aubrey Peacock. The Wildcats’ 400y medley relay team also placed fourth in the meet.
