BIG EAST Swimming Preview
February 17, 2010 07:04 AM | General
February 17, 2010
MEN'S PSYCH SHEET
WOMEN'S PSYCH SHEET
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With the regular season campaign completed, the West Virginia men’s and women’s swimming teams will now focus on the 2010 BIG EAST Championships. The championships this year will run from Feb. 17-20 at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Last season the men finished up in fourth place, while the women finished in fifth. However, this season is a whole new game with most of last year’s talent returning and the addition of strong freshman swimmers in the offseason.
Preliminary and final results will be available at MSNsportsNET.com, along with daily recaps. Fans can follow the live stats on the homepage and each of the sessions can be viewed live and on-demand at BIGEAST.tv.
FREESTYLE
Sophomore Brad Eichenseer will likely lead the men in this year’s sprint freestyle events. Eichenseer will be seeded fifth in the 50 free (20.55) and ninth in the 100 free (45.60). Also looking to contribute in the 100 free will be freshman Hugh Simmonds and sophomore Joe Bailey.
Freshman sensation Jared Goldthorpe will be seeded first in both the 200 free (1:37.38) and the 500 free (4:21.62), while Simmonds and freshman Jake Querciagrossa will both be looking to final in each event. Sophomore Taylor Camp also is looking to final in the 200 free.
Senior Justin Galbreath, sophomore Ian Stavros and freshman Tim O’Malley will look to lead the pack in the 1,650 free. Galbreath is a BIG EAST Champion in the event and Stavros was a finalist in last year’s championships.
Senior Kayla Andrews will look to defend her title in the 100 free (49.27) this season and comes into the meet seeded first. Andrews is also seeded first in the 50 free (22.42). Also hoping to final in the 100 free are seniors Shaunna Purtell and Stephanie Shupe and sophomore Sarah Kosmak.
Returning 200 free and 500 free BIG EAST Champion, senior Morgan Callaway, will be seeded first in the 200 free (1:48.60) and second in the 500 free (4:48.17). Freshman Rachael Burnett is seeded first in the 500 free (4:46.64) and fifth in the 200 free (1:49.78) as well. Both events should be big point-getters for the Mountaineers. West Virginia has five of the top 15 seeds in the 200 free with Callaway, Burnett, Purtell and freshmen Robyn Matthews and Kata Fodor. Freshman Sloan Storie and Sara Conner will also be making a push to final. The 500 free features six West Virginia swimmers in the top 20 including; Burnett, Callaway, Fodor, Matthews, Purtell and freshman Mandie Nugent.
Fodor and Storie will both be vying for finalist positions in the 1,650 free as well.
BACKSTROKE
Goldthorpe will lead the backstroke contingent in the 200 back (1:44.03) and 100 back (48.58) where he is seeded first and second, respectively. Senior Tim Field will also swim in each event, while sophomores Kevin Anderson, Eric Johnson and Brandon Carr and freshmen Leo Downes and Jake Querciagrossa round out each event.
The women are again led by Callaway who is seeded third in the 200 back (2:00.48) and fourth in the 100 back (55.47). Conner will also swim each event, as well as, freshmen Austen Carrington and Nikki Vetterlein.
BREASTSTROKE
Junior George Farquhar and sophomore Jack Greenhalgh will hope to score points in both the 100 breast and 200 breast. Freshman Graham Kauffman is also hoping the crack the leader board. Farquhar took second in the 100 breast and sixth in the 200 breast last season, while Greenhalgh took 12th and 14th, respectively.
Sophomore Jaryn Studer, Matthews and freshman Breanna McCann will represent the women in the 100 breast and 200 breast. Studer finished 10th place in the 200 breast at last year’s championships.
BUTTERFLY
Sophomore Martin Vanis, Eichenseer, Carr, Camp and Bailey will all have the potential to final in the 100 fly, while Vanis, Camp and Stavros will also swim in the 200 fly.
For the women, Andrews, Shupe and Nugent will all swim the 100 fly with hopes for a final swim, while Nugent will look to win the 200 fly (2:00.53) after earning the second seed. Burnett will also swim the 200 fly.
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
West Virginia will look for Vanis, Farquhar, Camp and Carr to have top swims in the 200 IM. Querciagrossa, Galbreath, O’Malley and junior Jeff Byrd will swim the 400 IM for the Mountaineers.
The 200 IM for the women will be led by McCann, Matthews and Studer, while the Burnett sits in the second seed in the 400 IM (4:17.72). Matthews, Storie and Carrington will also swim the 400 IM.
RELAYS
All of the relay teams should provide the Mountaineers with key points in the championships. For the men, the 800 free relay (6:38.66) is seeded first, the 200 medley relay (1:29.34) and 400 medley relay (3:16.88) are each seeded second and the 200 free relay (1:21.71) and 400 free relay (3:01.29) are seeded third.
The women also have top relays with the 800 free relay (7:21.71) and 400 free relay (3:20.63) seeded first, the 200 free relay (1:32.55) seeded second and the 200 medley relay (1:43.06) and 400 medley relay (3:43.82) seeded third.
