Swimming: Mountaineers Travel to Georgia Invite
December 04, 2008 04:29 PM | General
December 4, 2008
| Georgia Invitational Gabrielsen Natatorium Athens, Ga. |
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| Order of Events | ||||
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| Friday, December 5, 2008 Prelims, 9:30 a.m.; Finals, 5 p.m. Live Results |
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| 200 yard freestyle relay 500 yard freestyle 200 yard individual medley 50 yard freestyle Men’s 1-meter diving Women’s 3-meter diving 400 yard medley relay |
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| Saturday, December 6, 2008 Prelims, 9:30 a.m.; Finals, 5 p.m. Live Results |
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| 200 yard medley relay 400 yard individual medley 100 yard butterfly 200 yard free 100 yard breaststroke Men’s 3-meter diving Women’s 1-meter diving 800 yard freestyle relay |
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| Sunday, December 7, 2008 Prelims, 9:30 a.m.; Finals, 3 p.m. Live Results |
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| 1,650 yard freestyle 200 yard backstroke 100 yard freestyle 200 yard breaststroke 200 yard butterfly Men’s and Women’s platform diving 400 yard freestyle relay |
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia swimming and diving teams will swim in their biggest meet of the season thus far when they travel to Athens, Ga., to participate in the Georgia Invitational this weekend.
Starting on Friday morning, the Mountaineers will battle with the likes of California, Clemson, Denver, Georgia and Harvard in the Gabrielsen Natatorium. The preliminary events will begin at 9:30 a.m. from Friday-Sunday and the finals events will be at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and then move up to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
“This is a good opportunity for us to have a midseason focus meet,” Coach Vic Riggs says. “We’ve had a great fall of training and swims and we’re looking forward to see where we stand in the BIG EAST and against the best competition in the country.”
No. 8 California will be sending just their women’s squad who are 2-1 in dual meet action and came in first-place in the Texas A&M Invitational.
The Clemson men are 1-4 this season and the women come to Georgia with a 2-3 record.
Denver comes in to the invite with the men 5-0 and the women 4-1 in dual meets.
Georgia, the host of the meet, is No. 10 in the nation in the men’s rankings and No. 1 in women’s rankings. The men’s team is 3-1 this season while the Lady Bulldogs are an undefeated 4-0.
The No. 22 Harvard men’s team is 3-0 in dual meets with the women 3-0 as well.
“This will be the first opportunity to race in BIG EAST Championships and NCAA Championships format,” Riggs says. “This will give both the team and coaching staff a chance to see where our strengths lie as we prepare for the second half of the season and BIG EAST Championships.”
The WVU men’s squad (3-4, 1-1) will look for a successful weekend after having a month to train for the event. Its last meet resulted in a win against Cincinnati in which the men had seven first-place finishes. Seniors Pablo Marmolejo and Michael Walker have had very successful individual performances. Newcomers George Farquhar and Martin Vanis have provided the Mountaineers with great finishes as well.
The women’s team (3-5, 1-1) had 10 first-place finishes in its last meet in a win at Cincinnati. Junior Kayla Andrews has yet to not finish first in the 100 free this season. Junior Morgan Callaway, Shaunna Purtell and Stephanie Shupe have also had very successful swims this season. Jaryn Studer has continually gotten better meet-by-meet and West Virginia will be looking for key swims from the freshman.
Following the Georgia Invitational the Mountaineers will be training until they travel to Tucson, Ariz., to participate in a training camp with Arizona from Dec. 30-Jan. 9. The Mountaineers and Wildcats will face off in a dual meet on Jan. 8 at 4 p.m. at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
Recaps will be released following each session on MSNsportsNET.com and live results will be available at georgiadogs.com.
