Just two nights ago, the No. 4 Arizona women’s swimming team was in eighth place at the 2007 Pacific 10 Conference Championships.
After last night, it’s in third.
With wins in the finals of the 50-yard freestyle event and 200-yard freestyle relay, the Wildcats (8-2, 4-2) moved up five spots, racking up 409.5 points – only 32.5 points behind second-place California – at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif.
“”We’re just not on our game at the moment, but tonight we swam very, very well,”” UA head coach
We’re just not on our game (Wednesday), but tonight we swam very, very well.
– Frank Busch,
UA head coach
Frank Busch said. “”If we keep doing this, it’s going to change the complexity of the meet a little bit.””
Tallying an individual win for Arizona was sophomore Lara Jackson in the 50y freestyle with a time of 22.05, which is a new Pac-10 meet record.
She was also a part of the record-breaking performance of the 200y freestyle relay team of junior Lacey Nymeyer and sophomores Anna Turner and Lindsey Kelly with a time of 1:26.71.
“”I think they feel real good about the way things went down tonight, so their confidence level is up,”” Busch said. “”We’re in this place where we can rely on our effort and rely on our attitude … and not worry about how we feel.””
The relay win came when it was most needed, as a team in the 200y medley relay was disqualified Wednesday night due to what Busch called a “”mental error.””
In other individual events, senior Whitney Myers came in third in the 200y individual medley, the same event in which she is a two-time NCCA champion. Freshman Justine Schluntz finished sixth in the event.
Fellow freshman Joni Zimmerman did not see the same success in the 500y freestyle where she finished in 17th place, though she beat her preliminary time in the same event by 4.02 seconds.
The women will continue to battle for what could well be a second-straight Pac-10 title today and tomorrow, and Busch said he’s looking forward to the next couple of days of racing.
“”This is not a time of year when you worry about how you feel,”” he said. “”This is the time that you race no matter how you feel, and they did a great job tonight.
“”That’s why I feel like we’re moving in the right direction.””
