Big East Preview
February 15, 2006 02:50 PM | General
February 15, 2006
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| Sergio Lopez |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach Sergio Lopez hopes his teams have enough shovels to dig themselves out of the hole they’re already in.
The Mountaineer men’s team, one of three favorites along with Pitt and Notre Dame to win this year’s Big East Swimming and Diving Championships now underway at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y., will begin swimming competition on Thursday morning down at least 100 points. That’s because the men don’t have a single diver qualified for today’s competition.
“We’re going to have to overcome diving,” the second-year coach admitted. “Last year Pittsburgh beat us in diving by 185 points and this year they’re probably 90 points ahead of us with diving if they stay at the same place in their (conference) rankings. If they do better it’s more and if the do worse it’s less.”
Regardless, West Virginia is bringing a much deeper men’s team to New York than last year’s squad that placed fourth – matching WVU’s best-ever finish at the meet. Lopez has four relays that will contend for conference titles in the 200 free relay, the 400 free relay, and the 200 and 400 medley relays. The 200 free relay is ranked 14th in the most recent CollegeSwimming.com Division I rankings, while the 200 medley relay is ranked 18th.
Though not ranked, Lopez believes the 400 free relay might be the team’s strongest.
“We swam four seconds faster than the NCAA qualifying time but we got disqualified (at Maryland) because one of our guys jumped,” he said.
Lopez says all four have a legitimate shot of qualifying for nationals, which is one of his top priorities coming out of this weekend’s competition.
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| Sophomore Nick Delic is ranked sixth in the 100 breast with a season-best time of 53.82.
WVU Sports Communications |
Individually, Lopez has four top-rated swimmers looking to earn NCAA qualifying times. The closest to qualifying is sophomore Nick Delic, whose time of 53.82 seconds in the 100 breast stroke is just .22 seconds shy of automatically qualifying for nationals. Delic’s top time currently ranks him sixth in the country. The Split, Croatia, resident is also ranked 14th in the 100 butterfly with a season-best time of 47.99 -- .70 shy of an automatic qualifying time.
Sophomore Pablo Marmolejo is ranked 14th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:47.70. The automatic qualifying time in the 200 butterfly is 1:44.93.
Both Delic and Marmolejo already have Big East titles to their credit.
Sprinters Chris Hagedorn and Andrew Langenfeld are also close to qualifying in the 50 freestyle. Hagedorn, a junior from Clarksburg, is ranked 18th with a time of 20.30 while Langenfeld, a freshman, is ranked 35th with a time of 20.30.
“We haven’t had this many swimmers this close to qualifying for nationals since the 1980s when they took three of four guys and maybe a relay,” Lopez said.
According to the coach, typically about 20-25 competitors qualify for each NCAA event.
“I wouldn’t say there will be more than 28 or 29 in any event,” he said. “If there is a year with a lot of people that have qualified in multiple events then it’s easier to have a longer list. Right now there are a lot of swimmers that are versatile and they qualify in multiple events, and that provides space for other people.”
In order to win this year’s Big East championship, Lopez admits his men’s team is going to have to “swim a perfect meet.”
The women’s team, which placed seventh at last year’s race, has one competitor competing in the 1-meter dive today in sophomore Erica Pfeiffer. Lopez believes as many as three women could swim times fast enough this weekend to put them into NCAA consideration.
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| Sophomore Maritza Paredes won the 200 freestyle at last year's Big East championships and missed qualifying for nationals by six-tenths of a second.
WVU Sports Communications |
Sophomore Maritza Paredes won the 200 freestyle at last year’s Big East championships and missed qualifying for nationals by six-tenths of a second. Paredes injured her ankle at the World University Games and wasn’t able to train until November.
Isabel Perez, a freshman from Mallorca, Spain, has produced times fast enough in the past to qualify for nationals but has also been slowed by injuries.
“When she came here we didn’t know she had a shoulder injury and was out of the water for four months,” Lopez said. “She wasn’t able to do a full practice until November.”
Lopez also identified Morrison, Ill., freshman Rachel Fedyk as a national contender in the 50 freestyle. The automatic qualifying time in the 50 free is 22.88.
“She has a good shot if everything goes well,” Lopez said. “I think next year she will be there for sure. This year, it all depends on how everything times out.”
Unlike the men, the women’s relays aren’t quite as developed yet but Lopez says they’re improving.
“Our 200 free relay could be awesome,” he said. “Our 800 free relay is also very good.”
Because conference newcomers Cincinnati and Louisville will eat up points that would have normally gone to other teams in the past, Lopez isn’t sure if the women can make a big jump from last year’s seventh place finish.
“Our goal is to break a couple of school records in relays and improve our place from last year,” Lopez said. “I think the girls right now are in a great situation.”
The WVU women posted its first winning season (5-4-1) since 1996.
Notre Dame, Rutgers and Villanova are the three favorites to win the women’s meet.
