Swimming Preview
October 17, 2003 04:35 PM | General
October 17, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Under the direction of interim head coach Steve Phillips, the 2003-04 Mountaineer swimming and diving squad looks to prolong a trend that has been the program's trademark over the past for seasons: improvement.
West Virginia has simply achieved more and more with every passing season, and this year, with a young and talented nucleus of swimmers and divers, will be no exception.
"We've got a great bunch of talented and determined swimmers," said Phillips. "They all have their own personal and team goals to achieve and are excited to get started."
The women's team, in particular, will try and build on last season's 7-8 dual record, its best mark since the 1999-2000 season.
While boasting just three upperclassmen, the squad will look to seven sophomores and eight freshman for immediate results. Leadership and guidance will be crucial for captain Lee Ann Johnston, the team's top returning backstroker and lone senior.
Fellow freestylers Livia Cascao and Manuela Trabert have also scored points for the Mountaineers and look poised to make a considerable impact this season. Sophomores Ashley Bissett and Jessica Banner exploded onto the scene as freshmen and will continue to score in distance freestyle events.
Two sophomores that also made a splash in their rookie seasons and are set for an encore performance are Olga Tzinker and Megan Carlson, two breast/IM specialists who tallied points and made some promising swims.
The real test to how productive the women's season will be may lie in the hands of the eight freshmen, all of whom need to step up and score points in order for the squad to be successful.
The diverse Chelsea Ademski should contribute in the backstroke, IM and breaststroke amongst other events while Elizabeth Cleary has shown enough potential to step right in with an already loaded group of sprinters.
Freshmen Lindsay Beresford and Jennifer Nyce will be the squad's lone divers and will need to progress quickly in order to make an impact.
"We really have a freshman class that can score for us and make our team better," said Phillips. "I think the team has a good mix that can do some damage and finish higher at the BIG EAST meet this year."
The men's squad returns enough top performers from last year's 9-5 squad to garner serious consideration as one of the top three or four teams in the BIG EAST conference in 2003-04.
The team is led by three-time 200 freestyle BIG EAST champion Kleyton Franca, a potential NCAA qualifier and arguably one of the very best the conference has to offer.
"Kleyton will have a lot on his plate this season," said Phillips. "Not only is he trying to win his fourth title and make the NCAA meet, but he wants to graduate from the engineering program in his fourth year. If anyone can balance his time and succeed, though, it's him."
Come February, Franca will be focused on becoming just the 11th male swimmer in BIG EAST history to win four conference championships in an event. The Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, native, also looks to return to the NCAA meet after missing the cut last season but qualifying for two events as a sophomore.
Fellow Brazilian Pedro Pinto will feed off a stellar conference championship meet last season in which he garnered all-BIG EAST status in the 100 butterfly and broke the school record in the event in the preliminary round.
Another potential NCAA qualifier is junior Matt Drozd, who has already solidified himself as one of the best sprinters in school history after breaking the team record in the 50 freestyle last season.
Drozd joins senior Travis Watson, a physically sound veteran who is one of the squad's top butterfliers, as team co-captains for 2003-04.
Senior Can Eter returns as one of the squad's top breaststrokers while Thomas Fletcher, Richard Mann and Kevin Van Buskirk will continue to score points individual as well as relay events.
Without question, WVU's top newcomer is Auburn transfer Chris Hagedorn, who swam on the Tigers' 2002-03 National Championship team. Hagedorn, a Clarksburg, W.Va., native, is no stranger to the Natatorium, as he still holds the pool record in the 50 free from his days at Robert C. Byrd high school.
Other freshmen that are destined to make an impact are divers Tim Hobbs and Robert Butcher, and freestylers Nathan Furhman and Kyle Williams.
The diving team looks to be strong on the men's side as it returns juniors Ryan Faught and Brian Donohue, two veterans that performed well on both the one and three-meter boards last season.
"The women and men both want to finish higher this season, no doubt about it," said Phillips. "Everything is completely doable and the sky is the limit for this group. Their times are there and the work ethic is there. Anything's possible right now."
With this season being an Olympic year, the competition to reach the NCAA meet will be extra difficult for all swimmers here and across the nation, as increased training and exposure to international coaching will raise the bar significantly.
Among WVU's international Olympic hopefuls poised for the Athens games are Olga Tzinker, who is a member of the Israeli National Team, and Can Eter, who captured the national championship in the 100 breast last year in Turkey and is arguably the nation's most elite swimmer.
"The fact that this is an Olympic year will certainly put pressure on a number of our athletes and swimmers everywhere," explains Phillips. "But the pressure is good pressure. It will boost a lot of these kids to the next level, which is a great thing."
Despite a slight imbalance of youth and upperclassmen, the Mountaineer arsenal looks more talented and hungry than ever before. If the old saying is true that history repeats itself, then the WVU swimming and diving squad will progress even more in 2003-04, which could be a scary proposition for the rest of the competition.
