Spring Break
Huskies Eager For Championship
Swimming and Diving
Dennis Rizzo
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Sports
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That was the case for both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams who were surging through their respective seasons. The men were undefeated and the women were riding a four-meet winning streak. Then they swam into Yale.
"Yale was very ready for us," said head coach Bob Goldberg. "They swam terrific and we didn't."
The men's team (8-3) received their first loss of the season and the women (7-3) saw their momentum come to a screeching halt. Luckily for these athletes though, their season did not end with the loss to the Bulldogs. For some however, it ends with the Big East Championship, which takes place over the next four days, beginning this afternoon in East Meadow, N.Y.
Even after UConn's losses to Yale, Goldberg is still optimistic that the men and women can both perform well at the conference championship and said the team is very excited about the upcoming meet. While Notre Dame and Louisville are the favorites to win the Big East on both sides, Goldberg believes that the rest of the field is wide open.
Both teams are good," Goldberg said. "Both teams have a lot of support and both are very competitive."
"I think we could be as high as third, which would be a phenomenal finish" Goldberg said. "It is a combination of an individual and team meet. We have some people who have a real shot at winning events and going on to NCAAs so in that way it is very much of an individual sport. But then we add our points together and we are looking for a real good team finish."
While nothing is permanent yet, Goldberg believes that several of his swimmers also have a legitimate shot at moving on to the NCAA meet. Goldberg said those with the best shot are Courtney Haney, Lisa Shelps, Adrian Astiz, Tomasz Sobek, and Alex Davidson.
For the women, Haney and Shelps have led the team. Haney, a team captain, enters the Big East Championship as the second seed in 200-yard breaststroke. Shelps on the other hand holds five individual UConn records and has also qualified for the NCAA "B" cuts. She is also a No. 2 seed in both the 200 and 400-yard individual medley.
Overall, the women's team set seven school records this season.
While Sobek and Davidson are only freshmen, you would not know it from their performances this season. Sobek was a finalist at the Short Course Championship and finished 20th overall. Davidson set a team record in the 200-yard backstroke this season and is also the second seed in the 200-yard backstroke at the Big East Championship.
While the possibility of a chance to compete at NCAA meet is present, coach Goldberg knows that UConn's coaches, swimmers and divers all share the same goal, and that is to improve on the results from last season's Big East Championship, where the men finished sixth and the women seventh.
Contact Dennis Rizzo
at Dennis.Rizzo@UConn.edu.
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