VARSITY ATHLETICS

February 13, 2009

The Yutzy Report: 2009 UAA Swimming & Diving Championships

Thoughts from Chicago – UAA Day 1
By Assistant Coach and Alumnist - Steve Yutzy

From the beginning of the season in September to right now at the UAA Championships, it's tough to be a swimmer. You have practice at least 9 times a week, and swim several miles each day, all based on the belief that you'll swim faster when you rest for your big meet at the end. So far, all that work seems to be paying off for our team in a huge way.

After day 1 of the 2009 UAA Swimming & Diving Championships, the first thought that comes to my mind is “wow”. We known for years that we compete in hands down the most competitive swimming conference in all of Division 3, and this year is no exception. As the conference gets faster though, so do we, and roughly 4 out of every 5 races we competed in yesterday saw our athletes set new lifetime bests in their events. Just to say it again (cause this is a huge deal!), that means that 80% of the times our athletes touched the water they're swimming faster than they've ever swam before. And even better, most of those who set their new lifetime bests in the morning stepped up and went even faster at night to move up in the standings. As a coach, this is the kind of stuff that just puts a gigantic permanent smile on your face.

For the women, our received our first 4 all-UAA honors of the meet when the 200 free relay (Roxanne Leyshon, Marine Gu, Stephanie Campbell, Jessica Nuhfer) placed third. On the men's side, we saw 3 varsity records fall with all 3 under the NCAA B qualifying time: Alex Hostoffer's 200 individual medley, the men's 400 medley relay (Drew Swartz, Alex Hostoffer, John Somerville, Dan Wolak), and Drew Swartz broke the 100 backstroke varsity record leading off the relay.

As well as we swam on day 1 (and I've seen a number of day 1's during my 8 years around the team here), days 2 and 3 should be even better as we start swimming more stroke events, where we're traditionally very strong and deep. Here's what to look forward to on day 2 (friday):

-Alex Hostoffer will be attempting to break the varsity record in the 100 breastroke and qualify for nationals

-The men's 200 medley relay has been the fastest relay with a national cut not to make the meet for 2 years in a row, and will be in the hunt for our first ever UAA men's relay title while leaving no doubt that they should swim at nationals
-Roxanne Leyshon set the varsity record in the 100 breaststroke unrested last semester, and will be looking to improve on her time and qualify for nationals

Time to go rest my voice and get ready to cheer tomorrow. One day down, two to go. Let's go spartans!

Posted by: Creg Jantz February 13, 2009 10:49 AM | Category: Women's Swimming

Posted by: cnj4 (Creg Jantz) February 13, 2009 10:49 AM | Comments (0) | Trackback