Year-in and year-out, the Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving teams have been among the most successful of UC San Diego's 23 intercollegiate programs on the national level. This year's squads figure to maintain that tradition. On the eve of the 2006 NCAA Division II Championships in Indianapolis (March 8-11), Triton juniors Jake Dong and Liz Whiteley, both NCAA veterans, shared some insights and predictions about the upcoming meet.
Q-What's tougher at the NCAA Championships, the week leading up to the event or the actual races?
DONG?For me personally, the week leading up to the NCAA Championships is much harder. The week prior to any big swim meet is one in which a lot of different thoughts and emotions are running through your head. There is a lot of excitement, anticipation, anxiety at times, and even a little fear. Once the team arrives at the hotel and swims in the pool, it goes straight into swim-meet-mode and it just becomes another swim meet.
WHITELEY?I would agree that the week leading up the races is mentally harder than the actual meet. The team leaves on Sunday, and the meet starts on a Wednesday. So that last week of school you're trying to focus on preparing for the biggest meet of the year, and wrap up a week and half's worth of school work in a couple of days. That's tough. Then once you leave San Diego and all of your academic concerns behind, there are still a couple of days before the meet actually starts. I remember that being hard because you know that you're in Buffalo, or Orlando, or some other random city to compete and you just want the meet to start. Instead you're warming up in the morning, then going back to the hotel, then swimming again, then eating at some restaurant and it seems like the meet is never actually going to start. Once it finally does, though, it's so exciting. Being in the pool complex with all of the other athletes, watching your teammates warm up and knowing that they're going to swim so fast is really fun. And while the races themselves are hard, there's always so much spirit and
enthusiasm because everyone's swimming so well.
What one swimmer do you think has the best chance to win an individual championship? Why?
DONG?That's a really tough question. The other top schools have a lot of foreign swimmers that are extremely fast. However, if I had to pick the one guy that has the best chance of winning an individual event at the NCAA Championships, it would have to be Evan Hsiao in the 100-yard breaststroke. That event is very competitive at the NCAA meet, especially with the two powerhouse breaststrokers from Drury. But Evan is right up there with them. He's really strong, and all season long he focuses a lot of energy on making sure he does things correctly and efficiently. If he's tapered correctly and has a good race in finals, he could pull off a victory in that event.
WHITELEY?I guess I would say Sophie Levy. I'm pretty sure she is seeded first in the 1,650 and I know she has what it takes to win. At conference she crushed everyone else in that event and she wasn't even rested. Plus she's a very determined and competitive swimmer so I think there's a really good chance she'll win that event (and any of the other distance freestyle races as well).
I don't think we have any other swimmers seeded first individually, but there are going to be some other really amazing swims. Susan Bell won all three of her events at conference and she wasn't rested, either. She gets faster pretty much every time she swims which is crazy because she's so fast to begin with. Em Harlan is our top sprinter and she'll race anyone out there (and usually win) so I think it will take a very big race for someone to beat those two.
Q-Which Triton relay team will be the strongest? Why?
DONG?I believe that the 200 medley relay will be the strongest male relay at the NCAA meet. Freshman Steve Hardy has shown a lot of talent this season in the backstroke, Evan's 50 breaststroke split is definitely one of the fastest in the nation in Division II, Barney Sclafani more than pulls his weight in the butterfly, and the addition of Lars Nordstrom in the sprint freestyle has really given us a strong closer for this relay as well.
WHITELEY?That's hard to say. All of our relays swam really fast at conference. I'm pretty sure the 800 free relay is seeded first which means no other D-II team has put up a faster time all season. Last year our 400 free relay did really well, and I think they are even faster this year, so that's a good sign.
Both of our medley relays are really strong. The 200 medley should be fun to watch because Susan Bell just broke the 50 back school record recently, Louisa Salisbury (breast) and Emily Harlan (free) are great sprinters and Jen Simms has a really powerful fly. That event is short enough that really anything could happen. And, of course, the 200 free relay is an even shorter event and all of those girls are really quick, so I could definitely see us taking first in any of the five. That doesn't really answer the question, but I have a lot of faith in all of our relays.
Q-What UCSD swimmer (male) do you predict will be the biggest surprise at the NCAA's? Why?
DONG?Freshman Steve Hardy will surprise a lot of people including himself in his swims at NCAAs. He's an extremely talented kid who's got a really good feel for the water. I think that he'll place well in all of his events, especially the 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley.
WHITELEY?Again, that's a hard question. Everyone on the team has a the potential
to have some phenomenal swims. I think any surprises though, will come from the freshmen. All five of those girls qualified at Speedo Cup, so they've only been shaved and tapered once in their college careers, and that was back in November. Having the entire year of training behind them, plus the excitement of being at a national meet, means they could do just about anything.
Q-Share something that the average fan would not know about the NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships?
DONG?When any average fan arrives at the NCAA Division II Championships to watch, it may seem that though UCSD places quite well (the men's team placed fourth last year), very few UCSD male swimmers win individual events. Also, it seems as though a few people from the same two or three schools win every event. The big powerhouses of Division II Drury and North Dakota both give full athletic scholarships to their athletes, which enables them to recruit and have Division II "superstar" athletes at their disposal.
A majority of the time these superstar athletes are from other countries and are in their mid-to-late twenties. UCSD, on the other hand, gives no athletic scholarships whatsoever. This makes it difficult to recruit superstar athletes similar to those of Drury and North Dakota. Last year we had a guy by the name of Kurt Boehm, who was on par with the guys from Drury and North Dakota, but came to UCSD for the graduate engineering program, not for an athletic scholarship. What I'm trying to explain is that the UCSD Swimming and Diving team is made up of an excellent coaching staff that develops good swimmers into great swimmers, and great group of talented, hard-working men and women who swim and dive not out of obligation, but because they choose to do it for their own enjoyment.
WHITELEY?The NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships will never be in California. I guess they could be, but based on what's happened in the recent past, I think it's highly unlikely. I believe there is a general rule about the location of the meet, relative to where the teams are coming from. Most swim and dive teams in Division II are from the Midwest or the East Coast. This is a major factor why our team has been to places like Florida, New York, North Dakota, Ohio and never anywhere in sunny California.
Also, the NCAA prefers to host the meet at an indoor pool. Again, I'm not sure there's a policy against holding it at an outdoor venue, but with the potential weather situations in early March, I can understand their concern, particularly at a Midwest or East Coast site.
