DENVER ? Four WAC teams take to the pool this weekend, looking to make waves of their competition. Hawai’i is back in action, more than a month removed from its last competition, as the Rainbow Wahine travel to Irvine, Calif. for the Big West Shootout and to Los Angeles, Calif. for the USC Trojan Diving Invite. Idaho makes the short trip to Pullman, Wash. to take part in the Washington State Invitational. Nevada returns to the pool after two weeks off, as the Wolf Pack travel to Lincoln, Neb. for a pair of double dual meets against Nebraska and Nebraska-Omaha on Friday and versus Iowa and Nebraska on Saturday. In its first action of the season, San Diego heads to Irvine, Calif. for the UC Irvine Shootout. Boise State, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona and San Jose State all take the week off, but will be back in action in the first few weeks of November.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK ? Northern Arizona freshman Kim Kopra has been named the Western Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week, for the week of Oct. 22-28. This is the first career WAC Athlete of the Week honor for Kopra.
Kopra, a native of Kamuela, Hawaii (Hawaii Prep), posted outstanding performances in her first meets as a Lumberjack, taking several first and second place awards in various individual events and relays. Against TCU and Centenary, Kopra touched the wall first in the 100-yard breaststroke and was a member of the winning 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay teams. Her first-place time of 1:05.48 in the 100-yard breaststroke against North Texas already ranks as the third-best all-time at Northern Arizona and is second in the WAC this season. Kopra also swam to second-place finishes in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events and the 200-yard medley relay against Texas A&M. Her performances guided the Lumberjacks to a 3-1 start as Northern Arizona opened its 2007-08 season.
Other nominees included: Brie Marhenke of San Jose State earned top honors in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events and anchored the 200-yard freestyle relay to a first-place finish against Idaho on Oct. 26. Marhenke then won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events against Idaho and Washington State on Oct. 27, and was a member of the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay and anchored the third-place 200-yard medley relay.
SAN JOSE STATE’S MARHENKE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE SPRINT FREESTYLE EVENTS ? Spartan senior co-captain Brie Marhenke continued her dominance in a trio of dual meets last weekend, leading the Spartans to a 2-1 record, including a pair of wins over WAC foe Idaho. Marhenke was a six-time individual and three-time relay winner, improving to a perfect 19-0 in the 50-yard freestyle and 16-1 in the 100-yard freestyle in dual competition as a Spartan. Head-to-head against Idaho on Friday, she anchored the second-place 200-yard medley relay and then swept the sprint freestyle events individually, winning both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events by almost a full second. Marhenke ended Friday’s meet by anchoring the winning 200-yard freestyle relay. Saturday was a repeat for Markenke, as she swept the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events against both Idaho and Washington State, registering a career-best 51.38 in the 100-yard freestyle to win by over a full second.
BOISE STATE REWRITING THE BRONCO RECORD BOOKS ? After only their fifth meet of the season, the Boise State Broncos have already re-written the record books, as 12 school records have already been set this season. Overall, the Broncos set school records in the 50-yard, 200-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle, the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly, the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke, the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard IM, the 200-yard freestyle relay and three-meter diving. Boise State looks to continue to re-shape the Bronco record book as they prepare for upcoming meets.
Boise State Broncos
Boise State returns home from San Jose, Calif., after two dual meets with the Spartans ... the Broncos split a pair of meets with the Spartans, defeating San Jose State on Oct. 19, 172-125, before falling to the Spartans, 95-92 on Oct. 20 ... the Broncos were led by freshman Tara Hahto, who garnered three individual titles on Friday, including the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events and the 200-yard IM, notching career-bests in each of the three events ... after only five meets this season, the Broncos have already re-written the record books, as they have already set 12 records on the year ... up next, the Broncos have a one week break before they make the trip to Caldwell, Idaho to take to the pool with Albertson College and Mesa State College on Nov. 10.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
Hawai?i comes off two season-opening dual meets with the Sun Devils of Arizona State, falling 177-123 on Sept. 28, and 159-122 on Sept. 29 in Honolulu ... the Rainbow Wahine were led by newcomer Emma Berry, who captured first place in five of her six entries ... Berry touched the wall first in the 1,000-freestyle, 500-freestyle and 400-IM on Sept. 28, and in the 400-meter freestyle and 800-meter freestyle on Sept. 29 ... sophomore Emma Friesen took both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard with scores that qualified her for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional in March ... the Rainbow Wahine will have the month of October off in preparation for both the Lincoln Aquatics Shootout and the USC Diving Invitational, which take place the first weekend in November.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho fell short in its first two conference duals of the season at San Jose State, dropping a 188-92 decision on Friday and falling again, 176-104 on Saturday ... the Vandals placed first in the 200-yard medley relay on both days, marking the first time Idaho has won the medley relay since the program returned in 2004 ... the Vandal freshmen also had a strong weekend, with Elizabeth Jagusch clocking the best time in the 100-yard breaststroke, Anna Humphrey grabbing a pair of first-place efforts in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events and Alyson O’Brien touching the pad first in the 200-yard freestyle on both days ... up next, the Vandals will make the short trip to Pullman, Wash. to compete in the Washington State Invitational on Nov. 2-3.
Nevada Wolf Pack
After sitting in second place after the first day of competition at the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif., the Wolf Pack fell to fourth place when the meet came to an end on Oct. 20 ... Nevada finished behind California, Oregon State and Pacific, and beat out UC Davis to capture fourth place ... junior newcomer Courtney Eads posted the Pack’s top two individual finishes in the meet, earning seventh place in the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke ... Nevada’s 800-yard freestyle relay team had the Wolf Pack’s best finish in the meet, touching the wall for a third place finish in a time of 7:47.62 ... the Wolf Pack’s next action is this weekend when the squad travels to Lincoln, Neb. to compete in four dual meets over two days.
New Mexico State Aggies
New Mexico State produced a solid outing in its season-opening weekend, as they hosted Northern Colorado and Rice in Las Cruces ... the Aggies took two victories from the Bears, winning 136-107 on Oct. 12 and 198-102 on Oct. 13, but stumbled against the Owls, falling 127-110 on Friday and 151-143 on Oct. 13 ... the Aggies were led by freshman Kelly Conrad, who chalked up first-place ribbons in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events, and also anchored both the 200-yard medley and 400-yard medley relay teams to two first-place finishes ... the Aggie divers swept both diving events, with freshman Kristin Pickett taking the one-meter honors, while Carey Jameson won the three-meter title ... the Aggies have one week off in preparation for a double dual meet with Northern Arizona and Idaho on Nov. 10.
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
Northern Arizona started the season on a high note with a 57-45 dual meet victory at TCU on Friday, also defeating Centenary by a score of 87-14 ... the Lumberjacks captured wins in two relays ... Tami Binek earned wins in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events, Rachael Foe took first in the 100-yard butterfly and Kim Kopra was a winner in the 100-yard breaststroke ... in their second double dual meet in two days, the Lumberjacks improved to 3-1 by defeating North Texas 158-142, but falling 180-113 to Texas A&M ... NAU’s only individual win came when Danielle Borth captured the three-meter diving event ... up next, the Lumberjacks will have one week off in preparation for hosting a double dual conference meet with Idaho and New Mexico State on Nov. 10.
San Diego Toreros
The Toreros first scheduled competition on Oct. 27 against the No. 14 Bruins of UCLA was cancelled due to the fires in the San Diego region ... the Toreros will continue their with their non-conference schedule traveling this weekend to the UC Irvine Shootout. San Diego wrapped up its 2006-07 season with a seventh place finish overall at the WAC Championship meet in San Antonio ... the Toreros earned their best score in the three years they have been in the WAC earning 245 points ... top returners for the Toreros include junior Erin Voyles and sophomores Tina Levesque and Kristen Yoon.
San Jose State Spartans
San Jose State finished the week 2-1 in a trio of home dual meets, including a pair of wins over conference foe Idaho and a loss to Washington State ... Spartan athletes won 13 of the 16 events against the Vandals on Friday and 12 of 16 events on Saturday ... senior co-captain Brie Marhenke continued her dominance in the sprint freestyle events, winning both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events with times of 23.93 and 52.26, respectively ... joining Marhenke as two-time individual event winners on Friday were fellow seniors Amanda Carr and Jillene Golez, with Carr taking both distance freestyle events and Golez sweeping the butterfly distance events ... the Spartans will now be idle from competition for 18 days, leading up to the annual Nike Cup in Long Beach, Calif. on Nov. 15-17.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO SAN ANTONIO ? The 2008 edition of the WAC Championship returns to Palo Alto Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas. Nevada will look to defend its 2007 title in hopes of capturing its second WAC championship in a row. The championship will be held Feb. 20-23, 2008.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP ? The 2008 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship will be held in Columbus, Ohio, March 20-22. Hawai?i tied for 27th in 2007.
2008 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Zone Diving (5): March 13-15 or 14-16, 2008
Zone A: University of Buffalo (March 14-16)
Buffalo, New York
Zone B: Auburn University (March 14-16)
Auburn, Alabama
Zone C: Ohio State University (March 14-16)
Columbus, Ohio
Zone D: University of Houston (March 14-16)
Houston, Texas
Zone E: U.S. Air Force Academy (March 13-15)
Oklahoma City Community College
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Finals: March 20-22, 2008
Columbus, Ohio
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion
Host: Ohio State University
For Ticket Information: 1-800-GOBUCKS
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