Swim, Dive Teams To Battle Arizona, Arizona State In Desert
November 08, 2007 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 8, 2007
The USC men's and women's swimming and diving teams resume the Pac-10 dual meet schedule when they face Arizona in Tucson on Friday (Nov. 9) at 2 p.m. and Arizona State (Nov. 10) in Tempe on Saturday at noon. Times are MST.
The Trojans' men and women are ranked No. 13 and 15 in the latest CollegeSwimming.com poll, respectively. Both Wildcat teams are No. 4 while both Sun Devil squads are unranked. Arizona's women and men are both 1-0. The Arizona State women are 4-0, its men 1-3.
The USC women's team is 2-0 after a season-opening win against Pac-10 rival Oregon State, 145-112, on Oct. 12 and a 158.5-103.5 win at Notre Dame on Nov. 19. The men's team is 1-0 with its own win at Notre Dame, a 158-104 triumph. Most recently, the Women of Troy competed in the SMU Swimming Classic, where it finished fourth.
A handful of USC women's swimmers have already logged NCAA qualifying times. Junior Rebecca Soni, the two-time defending champion in the 200y breaststroke and a two-time All-American in the 100y breast, has posted NCAA automatic qualifying times in both distances already. She posted a 1:00.81 at Notre Dame and a 2:10.25 at SMU. She also has NCAA consideration marks in the 200y IM (2:03.26) and the 400y IM (4:18.09).
Junior Rachael Waller has NCAA consideration times in the 200y free (1:48.81) and the 200y fly (2:02.53). Junior Katy Houston has NCAA consideration times in the 100y breast (1:03.26) and the 200y breast (2:16.83). Junior Kristen Lahey has an NCAA consideration time in the 100y back (55.05) while senior Whitney Hentzen has one in the 500y free (4:52.92). Also, the 400y medley relay unit of Lahey, Soni, senior Emily Goetsch and Waller posted an NCAA consideration 3:42.53.
With only one meet under its belt, the men's team is still awaiting its first NCAA qualifying time.
Four USC divers have already qualified for the NCAA Zone Championships (the qualifying meet for the NCAA Championships) in March of 2008. USC senior Kim Popp and freshman Christine Petrilli on the women's side and freshman Steven Starks and Derek Roth on the men have all already qualified for the March event.
OVERVIEW
The Women of Troy return 10 swimmers and divers with NCAA Championships experience: seniors Emily Goetsch, Whitney Hentzen, Brittany Allen and diver Kim Popp, juniors Rebecca Soni, Kristen Lahey, Rachael Waller, Missy McIntyre and Katy Houston and sophomore Whitney Stephenson.
Allen (500y free, 1650y free), Lahey (100y fly, 100y back), Soni (100y and 200y breast), Popp (platform) and Houston (200y breast) were all Pac-10 Championship event finalists, as was sophomore diver Alex DeMond (1-meter).
The men's team is led by junior Vanni Mangoni, who was an All-American in the 400y IM last season, as well as senior sprinters and NCAA relay point scorers Richard Gosper and Bryce Elser. Mangoni (400y IM), Elser (100y fly) and senior Brandon Lovell (100y and 200y fly) are USC's three returning Pac-10 finalists, as well.
Players Mentioned
