The 2006 edition of the WAC Championship begins today from the Palo Alto Natatorium in San Antonio. There are only two events on tonight's schedule, with the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. This year will mark a new champion for the first time nine years, with the departure of SMU. The Championship will be held Feb. 22-25, 2006.
Click here to go to Live Results throughout the meet
Click here for a .pdf version of the Championship Notes.
Results will be available each day at the conclusion of competition.
Click here for the complete championship information.
Hawai'i is under the direction of first-year head coach Victor Wales. He is the 14th head coach of the program since 1931. Wales spent the past four years at the helm of the San Jose State Spartan women's swimming and diving programs. Hawai'i has set 10 new school records this season. Bach?© Atkins set the Wahine record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:52.43. Mia Broden posted a top mark in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:00.18. Nicole Mackey registered a time of 1:56.79 in the 200-yard backstroke to top the list. Hawai'i returns the four reigning WAC Champions in six events. QiongJie Huang won both the 1- and 3-meter diving competitions. Mackey earned gold in the 200 and 400 IM. Broden won the 100-yard butterfly, while Rui Wang was tops in the platform. Hawai'i owns a 10-4 dual meet record. All four of the Wahine's losses came to nationally ranked teams. They fell to No. 3 Stanford twice and No. 9 Wisconsin. Hawai'i also fell to Division II??s No. 3 Drury. The Wahine finished the season knocking off No. 24 Washington, 150-143.
This is the first year for Idaho to compete in the WAC. The Vandals made the move from the Big West Conference. The Vandals had everyone return for head coach Tom Jager's second season. Kacie Hogan has been one of the strongest performers for Idaho this season in the backstroke. She posted a season-best in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.96 and the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:08.60. JoJo Miller picked up a win against Oregon State, taking home gold in the 200 breast in a time of 2:23.22. She was one of four racers to win for the Vandals. Idaho set two school records at the Big West Shootout. Jenny McAnaney posted a time of 1:06.08 in the 100 breaststroke and Adriana Quirke touched in 2:11.70 in the 200 IM. Bryn Spores won in the 50 freestyle against Washington State in her final home meet. She recorded a time of 24.62.
Nevada has won 10 or more duals in a season each of the last fiveyears, including going 12-1-1 this season. The Wolf Pack have placed in the top three at the WAC Championships each of the last four years. Head coach Mike Shrader was named WAC Swimming Coach of the Year in 2002 while diving coach Jian Li You garnered WAC Diving Coach of the Year honors twice in 2001, and 2004. Freshman Kim Kabesh was named Oct. 24-30, WAC Athlete of the Week after winning three events at UC Davis and posting five top 20 finishes at the Pacific Tiger Invitational. The Wolf Pack team earned Academic All-America honors the past four years. Nevada finished second at the Speedo Cup to fourth- ranked Stanford back in November.
New Mexico States Rick Pratt is in his first season as head coach of the Aggies. The 2000 Alabama grad came to NMSU following a stint as an assistant coach with 2005 Mountain West men's and women's champions UNLV. Before that, he coached at Rutgers and as a volunteer assistant with his alma mater. Sophomore Kelly Freeburn, a transfer from the U.S. Naval Academy, has quickly established herself as the top freestyle sprinter on the team and is ranked seventh in the WAC in the 50 freestyle and 13th in the 100 freestyle as of 1/31. Junior Megan Woodworth has proven to be NMSU's most versatile swimmer as she owns the team's top times in the 200 butterfly, 400 IM, 500 freestyle, 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle. Woodworth is also the only school record-holder (1000 freestyle, 1650 freestyle) on this year's team. The shorthanded Aggies are competing this season with only 13 swimmers and no divers. Their lack of a diver cost them a January 28 dual meet against in-state rivals New Mexico when they outscored the Lobos 135-127 in swimming events but the presence of a diver gave UNM the 18 points it needed to pull out the win. Ilka Baur is the lone senior on the NMSU roster as all swimmers that have recorded the team??s top times are scheduled to return in 2006-07.
Northern Arizona will be competing in its second WAC Championship after joining the conference as an affiliate member in 2004-05. The Lumberjacks placed fifth out of seven teams last year. Sprint freestyle specialist Corie Collins earned her second as well as NAU's second WAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week honor earlier this season. Collins also earned the honor once last season. Four NAU divers have already qualified for the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships. Senior Blair Buder, sophomores Natalie Hughes and Danielle Borth, and freshman Dara Marin will all be representing the Lumberjacks. Distance freestyle specialist Alexis Buckley has earned a NCAA "B" Qualifying time in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:53.10. Hughes and Buder return as the Lumberjacks top divers. Buder finished fifth at last year's WAC Championship, earning a mark of 425.55 in the 3-meter. Hughes finished eighth in the platform and sixth in the 1-meter competition a year ago. NAU relay teams looks for their first medal, as they finished fourth in three of the five relay competitions in 2005.
San Diego had two swimmers earn WAC Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week. Senior Ashley Swart picked up the nod on November 7, while sophomore Joy Miller was selected on January 9. Swart broke the school record at the Speedo Cup, posting a time of 4:52.04 in the 500 freestyle. The time is the best in the conference. In just its second season competing in the WAC, San Diego looks to better its seventh-place finish from 2005. The Toreros only gathered two medals from 2005, with Swart taking home bronze in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.86 and silver in the 400 IM (4:19.11). Miller is the WAC??s top 10 in the 100 Fly, posting a time of 58.92 against Loyola Marymount.
San Jose State finished the dual meet season with a record of 6-5-1. The Spartans went 3-1-1 against WAC opponents, a record which included a narrow one-point loss, 149-148, and a tie, 150-150, against Nevada. Junior Brie Marhenke went 12-0 in the 50 freestyle in dual meets, and 9-1 in the 100 freestyle, registering a sweep of the sprint freestyles nine times during the year, including at third-ranked Stanford to open the season. Marhenke turned in both a school record and a pool record in the 50 freestyle this season, breaking the school record with a 23.42 mark at the Speedo Cup She also broke the Stevens Natatorium record at Oregon State with a time of 23.59. Senior captain Alli Adams moved up to second on the all-time Spartan list in the 200 breaststroke, with a first-place time of 2:22.47 on Senior Day against Nevada, sweeping the breaststroke events against the Wolf Pack. The highest San Jose State has ever finished at a WAC Championship is fifth-place, which it achieved in 2000, '02 and '04.
NCAA DIVING ZONES There are five NCAA Diving zones, being held March 9-11 or March 10-12. The following are the five respective sites.
Zone A:
U.S. Naval Academy (March 10-12)
Annapolis, Maryland
Zone B:
University of Kentucky (March 10-12)
Lexington, Kentucky
Zone C:
Ohio State University (March 10-12)
Columbus, Ohio
Zone D:
University of Missouri (March 10-12)
Columbia, Missouri
Zone E:
U.S. Air Force Academy (March 9-11)
Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP The 2005 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship returs to Athens, Ga., March 16-18. Hawai'i placed 16th at the 2004-05 Championship.
Gabrielsen Natatorium
Athens, Georgia
Host: University of Georgia
Ticket Info: 706/542-1231