For the first time this season, an opponent swept the No. 2 Arizona women’s and No. 5 men’s swimming and diving teams.
The No. 1 Stanford women defeated the Wildcats (5-2, 3-2 Pacific 10 Conference) 143-94 on Friday, while the Arizona men (4-2, 1-2 Pac-10) lost to the No. 2 Cardinal 131-110. The women faltered again on Saturday against No. 4 California, 159-142.
“”I think our focus was a little bit better (on Saturday), maybe because the meet was closer,”” UA head coach Frank Busch said. “”We hung in there the whole meet.””
Junior Lacey Nymeyer stood out for the women, winning all three of her events, the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyles, on Saturday. Against the Cardinal women, she posted a victory in the 200y freestyle.
“”We saw a performance by a swimmer today that I don’t think has ever been duplicated by any woman ever in this program,”” Busch said of Nymeyer. “”She was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.””
The women fought back against Cal after falling behind early in the meet, winning three of the final four individual events.
Freshman Caitlin Iverson won the 200y backstroke, junior Jacquelyn Craft took first in the 200y breaststroke and senior Whitney Myers got a win in the 200y individual medley.
“”That’s what our whole goal was Saturday … just to be tough and stay tough, and in order to do that we had to come together as a team,”” Nymeyer said.
Freshman Andrea Boritzke took the 100y backstroke event for the women.
The men saw more success Friday than the women against the Cardinal, losing by only 21 points.
“”There wasn’t anything super-fast in the pool, but their effort was really good,”” Busch said of the Arizona men.
Sophomore Nicolas Nilo posted two individual victories for the Wildcats in the 100y and 200y freestyle events.
Junior Albert Subirats won the 50y event, and senior Adam Ritter won the 200y IM.
To round off the competition, the Wildcats took first place in the 400y medley and freestyle relays.
“”We won both relays, so I felt we had a pretty impressive performance overall on the guy’s team,”” Subirats said. “”I don’t think we could have done anything else.””
The women took the 400y freestyle relay against Stanford.
Busch said he was pleased with both teams’ performances, even though neither came out of the weekend with a win.
“”Fast times are hard to come by right now, but your effort, you’ve got control over that,”” Busch said. “”That’s what I ask of them: give me your effort, we’ll let the cards fall where they may.””
Diving sees ups and downs during weekend
During Friday’s diving competition, senior Megan MacDonald finished second in the 1-meter competition and third in the 3m. Sophomore Allison Scaife came in fourth place in the 3m.
On the men’s side, freshman Mike Guilfoil finished third in both events.
Subirats named Pac-10 Swimmer of the Month
Subirats became the first Arizona swimmer to be named the Pac-10 Men’s Swimmer of the Month for his performance at the Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas.
Subirats won four individual events, setting two new UA records in the 100y backstroke and butterfly events.
“”Albert’s turned into a team leader,”” Busch said. “”He really likes the team, so he’ll do anything for the team.””
