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Annie VanLeeuwen and the Utah swimming and diving team will take on North Texas and Denver Saturday.
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Oct. 20, 2009
THIS WEEK
The University of Utah men's and women's swimming and diving teams travel to Colorado this week to take on the Denver Pioneers on Saturday Oct. 24 at El Pomar Natatorium. The Utah women will also be competing against the North Texas Mean Green.
LAST MEETING
This will be the fifth meeting between Denver and Utah on the men's side, with Utah holding a 4-1 advantage. Last season, Denver got it's first win in the series, defeating the Utes 175-123. Despite the loss, Utah saw impressive performances against Denver with John Baque (Olympia, Wash.) taking first in the 100 and the 200 breast and Eric Bonicelli (Overland Park, Kan.) finished second in the 100 fly behind Simon Oberholzer.
The Utah women are currently 4-2 all-time against Denver, defeating the Pioneers last season, 167-127. The Utes finished first in 12 of 16 events. Top performers from the meet were Hannah Caron (Raleigh, N.C.) and Annie VanLeeuwen (West Valley City, Utah) in the 200 free. Caron and VanLeeuwen finished first and second, respectively. Maiya Otsuka (Littleton, Colo.) finished first in the 200 breast. Last season's meeting between Utah and North Texas women's teams was the first. Utah finished first in 12 of 16 events and defeated the Mean Green, 187-112. VanLeeuwen had a career night, finishing first in the 1000 free with a career-best time of 10:24.92. She also finished first in the 100 breast.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Greg Winslow
"The plan is to stick our swimmers in their best events. We have three really difficult meets in a row (UNLV and Arizona State Oct. 31) and we are looking for the team to have the right attitude as well as endurance."
"We'll be expecting Annie VanLeeuwen and Hannah Caron to be big scorers for the women and John Baque and Major Robinson for the men. The men will have to rely on the distance free events to win. Both Robinson and Andy Lamb will have to get it done in the back stroke too."
"Every week is about getting better. The real key is to put yourself into a position to learn, to combine the techniques we have been practicing with an aggressive race plan."
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The Utes will have some difficult match-ups this Saturday. The Denver swimming and diving teams are currently ranked 25 in the National Collegiate Scouting Associations' Collegiate Power Rankings. The Denver men's team is the current Sun Belt Conference champion and return 400 IM Sun Belt Conference champion Clayton Myers, who turned in a top time of 3:49.05.
Eric Murray (Woodstock, Ga.) currently has the best time for the Utes in the 400 IM at 3:57.39. Andy Lamb (Raleigh, N.C.) and Major Robinson (Missoula, Mont.) both have faster times in the 100 and 200 back than any Denver swimmers. David Pursley (Edmonton, Alberta) is one of the fastest distance swimmers for the Utes with a time of 15:13.20 in the 1650 free, almost 8.5 seconds ahead of Denver's best time.
The Denver women finished in second in the Sun Belt Conference and have three returning conference champions: Katy Motsinger, who took the 100 back (54.54) and 50 free (23.02), Melissa Greaves in the 100 free (49.95) and Lisa Ginder in the 500 free (4:49.03).
Utah currently has better times in all the events other than the 100 back. Natalie Edge (South Jordan, Utah) holds the best time for the Utes in the 50 free at 22.92 as well as the 100 free at 49.76. Challenging Denver in the 100 back will be Beth Gunderson (Portland, Ore.) who has a top time of 56.93 in the event.
North Texas will head into Saturday's matchup 2-0 on the season, recently defeating Tulane in it's first dual meet and defeating the University of New Orleans. Standing out for the Mean Green was Becca Ploetz, who won both the 50 and 200 free against Tulane.
