THIS WEEK IN WAC SWIMMING AND DIVING- With the conference championship approaching, Western Athletic Conference teams are busy preparing. This week’s meets get underway as the Northern Arizona Diving squad travels west to Los Angeles to try its luck at USC. Two WAC Teams, Boise State and Idaho, make the trip to Washington State to take on the Huskies. San Jose State stays local and competes against Cal State Bakersfield in the first dual of a three-week homestand. In the only WAC meets of the week, San Diego battles Northern Arizona, while Idaho and Boise State hash out their in-state rivalry in Moscow.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK (Jan. 12-18)
DENVER ? Northern Arizona’s Renee Rother and Hawai’i’s Emma Friesen have been named Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Jan. 12-18.
Rother, a junior swimmer from Oregon City, Ore. (Gladstone HS), won two individual events and a relay as the Lumberjacks swept Loyola Marymount in a dual meet, 172.5-83.5, winning all 14 events. Rother won the 100-meter butterfly with a converted time of 58.80 and won the 200-meter butterfly in 2:25.33 (2:10.22 in yards). She also swam the butterfly leg of NAU’s winning 200 medley relay team that won with a season-best time (converted to yards) of 1:46.35. This is the first Athlete of the Week honor for the junior.
Friesen, a junior diver from Northern Vancouver, B.C., Canada (Seycove HS), took first in the 1-meter final and finished third on the 3-meter board at the Rainbow Diving Invitational last week. The defending NCAA 1-meter champion posted a score of 300.55 in the 1-meter final to take the title and a 282.50 on the 3-meter board. This marks the first time this season the junior has earned the Athlete of the Week award.
Other swimming nominees included: Fresno State’s Heidi Gjoen and San Jose State’s Kristen Trammell.
Other diving nominees included: Fresno State’s Blair Hopkins.
FRESNO STATE COMPETES IN SWIMMING AND DIVING FOR FIRST TIME IN 5 YEARS ? Fresno State Athletics Director Thomas Boeh announced on Jan. 8 the addition of two women’s sports in a move that reflects the University’s continued commitment to Title IX compliance.
The announcement marks the return of women’s swimming and diving which last competed in the 2003-04 academic year. This addition comes after the recommendations of the Gender Equity Plan Task Force, a 13-member campus-community panel charged by the University President John D. Welty to develop a new five-year gender equity plan that will guide the university to maintain Title IX compliance in its athletics program. Jeanne Fleck was chosen to head up the program in the 2008-09 season.
MINETTE SETS NEW WAC DIVING RECORD - Candice Minette, a senior diver from Nevada, set a new Western Athletic Conference diving record in a Dec. 6 dual against Idaho after she posted a score of 328.15 on the 1-meter board. Her score surpassed the previous record by QiongJie Huang (327.00) of Hawai?i set in 2005. This marks the second WAC record for the senior from Glendale, Ariz. as she set the high mark on the 3-meter board in January of 2008.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS TO SAN ANTONIO ? The 2009 edition of the WAC Championship returns to Palo Alto Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas. Nevada will look to defend its 2007 and 2008 titles in hopes of capturing its third straight WAC championship. The championship will be held Feb. 25-28, 2009.
WAC Championship Tickets ON SALE NOW:
All-Session Passes (includes all 10 sessions) are $35 for adults and $25 for children ages 18 and under.
Single-Session tickets will be available for purchase at the event (the pool will be cleared at the conclusion of each session). Prices are as follows:
Relays Wed. evening Adults $6, Children $4
Prelims Adults $6, Children $4
Diving Adults $6, Children $4
Finals Adults $7, Children $4
Tickets can be purchased by logging on to wacsports.com and clicking on the “Championships” tab. Scroll down to Swimming and Diving and select “Ticket Order Form.”
TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos
Despite winning eight of the 16 events and setting three new team records, Boise State dropped a close dual meet to Hawai?i, 161.5-137.5, two weeks ago ... the loss came only one month after the Rainbow Wahine edged out the Broncos by half a point at the Husky Invitational, in which the Broncos also set a new team record for points ... both the 200 free relay and 200 medley relay shined for Boise State as both relays brought in a first-place finish and set new team records ... Boise State will head north to Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Wash. this week for a pair of dual meets with Idaho and Washington State.
Fresno State Bulldogs
The Bulldogs earned a slew of lifetime bests in individual swimming and diving events in dual meets against UC Davis and San Jose State ... sophomore Rebecca Atchley and junior Rebecca Strmiska earned bests in every event they participated in ... all four divers earned best marks in the 1-meter and 3-meter events ... Junior Kendra Weeks earned a top three finish on the 1-meter, earning a best mark of 199.80, leading teammates Blair Hopkins, Jillian Mason and Jaime Krause to their best finishes of the season on the 1-meter and 3-meter ... the Bulldogs are off until Jan. 31 when they take on San Diego and Loyola Marymount.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine
The Rainbow Wahine hosted their annual Hawai?i Diving Invitational last week ... last years’ NCAA 1-meter diving champion Emma Friesen won both the 1-meter and 3-meter during the invitational ... Friesen won the 1-meter with a score of 322.85 and won the 3-meter with a score of 288.75 ... UH also battled Wisconsin in a dual meet, but fell to the Badgers, 202-57 ... Freisen captured her second-consecutive first-place finish when she posted a 300.55 on the 1-meter board at the Rainbow Diving Invitational last weekend ... the swim team prepares for the Canadian Winter Nations on Feb. 12-15.
Idaho Vandals
The Vandals defeated Seattle University, 162-100 in a Nov. 21st dual in Moscow ... junior Amanda Watson had a strong day for Idaho as she won a pair of individual events and swam a leg of the first-place 400-yard medley relay ... she won the 100-yard backstroke with a season-best time of 1:01.23, then won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:11.43 ... Idaho took on Nevada in Reno on Dec. 6, with the Vandals dropping the WAC meet 131-83 ... UI hosts Washington State on Jan. 23 and in-state rival Boise State on Jan. 24 in Moscow, Idaho.
Nevada Wolf Pack
Junior Margaret Doolittle posted three top-six individual finishes, winning one event and four others as a member of Nevada relays with two first place finishes as the Wolf Pack took fifth at the Nike Cup ... Nevada then took on Idaho on Dec. 6 in Reno as the Wolf Pack won 11-of-12 events to defeat the Vandals 131-83 ... Nevada improved to 6-2 with its victory over Idaho ... the Wolf Pack now prepares for San Jose State in a match-up of the top two teams in the conference on Jan. 31 in San Jose, Calif.
New Mexico State Aggies
The Aggies finished 1-1 on their Colorado road-trip over the weekend, earning a 155-79 victory over Northern Colorado before dropping 114-158 decision to Colorado State ... sophomore Mariesa Cloud won both 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events while sophomore Kirstin Pickett recorded a second-place showing on the 3-meter at Northern Colorado ... freshman Maria Spies continues to impress, winning both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events against tough competition at Colorado State ... NMSU returns to Las Cruces to host New Mexico on Jan. 28.
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
NAU swept Loyola Marymount on Jan. 17, winning all 14 events and setting a Wall Aquatic Center record in the final race of the day, the 400-meter freestyle relay ... NAU won by a final score of 172.5-83.5 ... Renee Rother won a pair of individual events ... on her way to WAC Athlete of the Week honors, Rother won both the 100 and 200-meter butterfly ... The 400m freestyle relay of Egloria, Tami Binek, Claire Ferro and Foe set a pool record in the event with a time of 3:56.69, resetting the eight-year old pool record set in 2000 (4:00.98) ... the NAU divers compete at USC next Friday against the Trojans, while the swimmers return to the Wall Aquatic pool to host San Diego next Saturday.
San Diego Toreros
USD dropped a 152-146 heartbreaker to UC San Diego over the weekend ... the Toreros had a 144-137 lead going into the final event of the afternoon, the 400 freestyle relay, when the Tritons swam to a first and second place finish to steal the win ... overall, the Toreros had 10 first place finishes in the meet and six second place finishes ... freshmen Jessica Rodriguez and Sarah Geerdes led the team, both with two first place finishes and a third place finish ... the team has a quick turnaround as they prepare for a WAC meet at Northern Arizona this Saturday.
San Jose State Spartans
With a victory at Cal State East Bay in its regular-season road finale, San Jose State has now won 13 consecutive dual meets ... the Spartans head toward the WAC Championship with straight duals at home over the next three Saturdays, against a trio of opponents they have already defeated in 2008-09 ... the stretch begins with a visit from Cal State Bakersfield on January 24 ... Spartan swimmers and divers have been honored with weekly WAC awards a program-best 10 times this season, and are ranked first in the conference in 10 of 16 individual events.