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This Week in Pac-10 Women's Swimming
Complete Release in PDF Format
PAC-10 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS NEXT WEEK
WHAT: Pacific-10 Conference Women's Swimming Championships
WHERE: Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool, Long Beach, Calif. WHO: Women's swimming teams from ARIZONA, ARIZONA STATE, CALIFORNIA, OREGON STATE, STANFORD, UCLA, USC, WASHINGTON and WASHINGTON STATE will compete for the 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championship. WHEN: Wednesday through Saturday, February 25-28, 2004; Preliminaries begin at 11:00 a.m. and finals begin at 6 p.m. each evening. TICKETS: Tickets for the 2004 Pacific-10 Conference Women's Swimming Championships are available only at the Championship site. An All-Session adult pass is $25, an All-Session student/senior citizen pass is $15. Single-day tickets are available at $10 for adults or $6 for a student/senior citizen. Wednesday night single session passes are only $1. MEDIA CONTACT: The Arizona State sports information office will handle publicity of the 2004 Women's Swimming Championships. Jon Evans, media relations graduate assistant, can be reached at (480) 429-3751. MEET RESULTS: At the conclusion of each event, results will be faxed to the Pac-10 SID offices. Also, the results will be posted on the Pac-10 web site (www.pac-10.org) on the swimming page, as well as on ASU's web site (www.thesundevils.com). Please contact Steve Hitchcock at the Pacific-10 Conference office for more information.
THE PARTICIPANTS PAC-10: The 2004 Pac-10 Championships feature some of the top teams in the country ... The latest CSCAA-Top 25 poll includes 4 Pac-10 teams in the Top-10 alone ... No. 4 CALIFORNIA, No. 5 (tied) STANFORD, No. 5 (tied) ARIZONA, and No. 7 (tied) UCLA ... Also in the Top-25 is No. 11 (tied) USC, and No. 21 ARIZONA STATE ... Three 2003 individual Pac-10 champions are back to defend eight crowns between them ... Stanford's Tara Kirk won both the 100 and 200 breaststroke at last year's Championships, setting the Pac-10 and Pac-10 meet records at both events ... USC's Kaitlin Sandeno returns this year after winning Pac-10 Titles in three events last year, the 500 free, 1650 free, and 400 IM ... Returning 2001-03 Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year, Cal's Natalie Coughlin, enters this year's championship with not only three titles from the 2003 Pac-10's (50, 100 free, 100 fly), but also three different titles she won from the 2002 league championship (200 free, 100 back, 200 back) and one as a freshman in 2001 (200 back) ... Coughlin is the only returning NCAA individual champion, winning titles in the 100 back, 200 back, and 100 fly in 2001, 02, and 03 ... Team results at the NCAA's found five Pac-10 teams in the Top-10 ... USC placed third, followed by No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 California, No. 9 Arizona and No. 10 Arizona State ... three other teams placed in the Top-25 , No. 11 UCLA, No. 19 Washington, and tied for No. 25 was Oregon State. ARIZONA: The No. 5 Arizona women's swimming and diving team finished its 2003-04 season 7-2 in dual-meet competition, 3-2 in the Pac-10 ... Earlier in the season, then-No. 6 Arizona pulled a minor upset beating then-No. 5 Texas at home by a score of 194-156 ... The Wildcats have already qualified seven swimmers to take part in the NCAA championships in March ... Among the elite seven are: All-Americans junior Jessica Hayes (200 meter free) and senior Jessica Wagner (100 meter breaststroke). ARIZONA STATE: The No. 21 Sun Devils have compiled a record of 2-8 in dual meets, 0-6 against Pac-10 competition ... Florencia Szigeti is fifth nationally in the 100 freestyle (49.79) while Ágnes Kovács is second in the 200 breaststroke (2:11.12), fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.94), and sixth in the 200 IM (1:59.64) ... Szigeti has turned in solid performances all season, winning 16 races in dual meets including seven victories in the 100 free in nine tries ... Kovács has also led the team this year, exemplified by an exceptional weekend at the Texas Invitational where she won three events (100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM) ... The Sun Devils will be looking to crack the top-five at the Conference Championships after finishing in sixth place for the past eight seasons. CALIFORNIA: No. 4 California (9-0, 6-0 Pac -10) finished off a perfect season Feb. 14, beating rival Stanford 151-149 before a Stanford record crowd of 1784 at the school's Avery Aquatic Center ... Seniors Natalie Coughlin and Natalie Griffith, junior Lauren Medina, sophomores Ashley Chandler and Helen Silver, as well as the 400m freestyle relay team, all swam NCAA ''A" cut times in their final meet of the season ... The Bears will look to improve on their fifth-place finish from last year's Pac-10 Championship. OREGON STATE: Oregon State completed the regular season with a 7-4 record in dual meets, including 2-2 in the Pacific-10 ... the Beavers also won the 18-team Speedo Cup meet in December ... Five-time All-American Birte Steven has had the nation's top time in the 200-yard breaststroke for much of the season, has been among the leaders in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley, and has a team-high 28 individual event victories this season ... Also among the national leaders this season have been Mari Embertson in the 400 individual medley, Kristin Huston in the 50 freestyle, Ausra Pacebutaite in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, and Monika Miroslaw and Christina Kinney in the 200 butterfly. STANFORD: Stanford women's swimming team returns to the Pac-10 Championships, where the Cardinal has won the event 14 times in its 17-year history ... Stanford is currently ranked tied for fifth in the nation after finishing its dual meet season with a 5-2 mark, 3-2 against league opponents... Tara Kirk is the current American record holder in both the 100 and 200 yard breast, a nine-time NCAA champion and 12-time All-American. She is also unbeaten in the 100 breast during her collegiate career with 33 consecutive wins in the event and has not been defeated in the 200 breast since her sophomore campaign, ranking first and third in the country in those two events so far this season... Her sister, Dana Kirk, currently has the nation's top 200 fly time, while ranking second in the 100 fly. UCLA: The defending Pac-10 Champion UCLA women's swimming and diving team enters the Pac-10 Championships ranked No. 7 in the nation with a record of 8-2 overall, 5-2 in the Pac-10 ... UCLA is led by three individuals with times ranked in the Top-20 in the world, freshman Katie Nelson, (1500 Free, 5th), senior Malin Svahnstrom (200 IM, 20th), and sophomore Kim Vandenberg (800 free, 14th) ... UCLA has improved steadily throughout the season, with historic victories over Stanford (second in school history) and USC (the Bruins broke a 10-year Trojan win streak) ... On the season, the Bruins have qualified a total of 24 individuals to the NCAA Championships (seven automatic, 17 provisional). USC: No. 11 USC goes into the Pac-10's sporting a 3-5 record, 1-4 in the Pac-10 ... Junior Kaitlin Sandeno and freshman Kalyn Keller have formed one of the most formidable 1-2 punches in the country ... Sandeno has clocked the fastest time in the country in the 400 IM at 4:10:11 and is among the top 5 in the 200 free, 500 free, 100 back, 200 IM and 200 fly ... Keller, meanwhile, is second in the 500 free and fourth in the 1650 free ... Junior Margie Pedder has also got into the long-distance act is ranked first in the country (as of Feb. 17) in the mile. WASHINGTON: The No. 23 Washington's women's team has complied a 10-5 record, including a 3-0 mark over conference teams in dual meets ... sophomore Sharon Olson has tallied four school record times this season in the 500 and 1000 freestyle and the 200 IM ... Olson opened the season with record-breaking swims in the 500 freestyle (4:51.85) and 200 individual medley (2:01.42) at the SMU Classic ... Oslon upped her performance against Penn State, posting an even faster mark in the 500 (4:51.71) and shattering the 1000 freestyle record in a time of 9:55.52 ... six other women have posted NCAA provisional times in 11 events. WASHINGTON STATE: The Cougars come to the 2004 Pac-10 Championships with an 1-8 record (0-5 Pac-10) ... Freshman Erin McCleave has the team's top times in the 50, 100, 200, and 500 freestyles, and the 100 backstroke...on the season, she has six top two finishes in the 200 free, three in the 100 free, four in the 50 free, and three first place finishes in the 500 freestyle...she holds places on the Cougar's All-Time Top 10 list in the 50, 100, 200, and 500 freestyles ... Freshman Monika Povilonyte has the team's best times of the season in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes...she has finished first in the 100 breaststroke five times this season.
LAST YEAR: UCLA won its second Pac-10 Championship. TEAM RESULTS 1. UCLA 1399.00 2. STAN 11308.00 3. USC 1138.00 4. ARIZ 1013.00 5. CAL 940.50 6. ASU 765.00 7. WASH 578.50 8. OSU 544.00 9. WSU 299.00^ - Pac-10 Championship Record *-NCAA Record
NCAA Championships: The NCAA Women's Swimming Championships will be held at Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas, March 18-20. For ticket info, call (979) 845-2311.
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