Big East Preview
February 13, 2007 07:50 PM | General
February 13, 2007
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| Nick Delic |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After a tremendous dual meet season that saw the men’s squad earn its highest ranking in school history and the women’s team soar to new levels, West Virginia University’s swimming and diving teams now travel to the BIG EAST Championship with hopes of securing top finishes.
The championship, held at the Nassau Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y., Feb. 14-17, will determine how far the Mountaineers have come this season and how many proceed onto the NCAA Championship.
“We have two goals for this weekend – for the team to swim as fast as it can and for us to qualify as many kids as we can for NCAAs,” says third-year coach Sergio Lopez. “I think the way the kids have performed so far this season they should all have a good feeling heading into the championship.”
The men’s team (13-0, 5-0) posted its first undefeated season since 1980. Ranked 17th in the latest CSCAA poll, the Mountaineers enter the championship as the conference favorites after defeating last year’s winner, 19th-ranked Notre Dame, two weeks ago at the Shamrock Invitational, 228-142. Pitt, which lost to WVU, 159-141 in January, joins the Irish as the other favorites.
This year’s squad, trying to improve on last year’s third place finish, is led by a slew of potential NCAA qualifiers, most notably juniors Nick Delic and Pablo Marmolejo, sophomore Andrew Langenfeld and freshman Zoltan Povazsai.
Delic, a Split, Croatia, native, heads into the championship with three of the BIG EAST’s top times – the 100 free (43.40), the 100 breast (53.17) and the 100 fly (47.26). Additionally, Delic’s time in the 100 breast automatically qualifies him for NCAAs, while his times in the 100 free and 100 fly are NCAA ‘B’ provisional times.
Langenfeld, looking to defend his 100 fly title, enters this weekend’s competition with three NCAA ‘B’ provisional times and the league’s best clocking in the 50 free (20.17), while Povazsai has two ‘B’ times and the conference’s best times in the 200 free (1:36.58) and the 500 free (4:26.37).
Marmolejo, last year’s winner in the 200 fly, is once again dominant in that event, already holding a ‘B’ standard with the league’s best finish of 1:47.11.
The men’s team also holds the conference’s best times in four of the five relays – the 200 free, the 400 free, the 800 free and the 400 medley.
“The men’s squad has the great possibility to make some unbelievable noise this weekend,” says Lopez.
The women’s team (9-4, 3-2) finished the year with its second consecutive winning season and ranked 31st in the CSCAA poll. Trying to surpass last year’s eighth place finish, the Mountaineers will battle favorites Notre Dame, Rutgers and Pitt for this year’s title.
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| Kitti Veisz |
Leading the women is freshman sensation Kitti Veisz. A Budapest, Hungary, native, Veisz made a splash this season, setting two school records and achieving three NCAA ‘B’ standard times. She currently has the league’s best finish in both the 100 breast (1:02.10) and the 200 breast (2:14.27).
Another freshman, Kayla Andrews, has also had a strong first year. The Newark, Del., native travels to the tournament already achieving ‘B’ standards in the 50 free (23.23) and the 100 free (49.71) -- the league’s best time and a school record.
The women’s relays have improved greatly over the season. The team leads the league in both the 200 and 400 medley relay and looks to be the favorites to win the titles.
“The women could place as high as fourth this year,” says Lopez. “Their training went well and they are definitely in a better position then they were last year.”
WVU will take 46 student-athletes to the championship, the largest total in school history.
“We are all healthy and hopefully we can have a good meet,” says Lopez. “The important thing is to swim as hard as we can because we have nothing to lose.”
Results will be posted on the BIG EAST Website, www.bigeast.org, after each session while live video streaming of each event will be available through the BIG EAST Championship Central page.
