Preview: Pac-10 Conference

University of Washington
Coach: Whitney Hite
Pac-10 Finish: Men: 6th
Women: 8th
NCAA Finish: Men n/a
Women: 35th

This Season the Huskies hope to improve on last years Pac-10 and NCAA finishes.  The Huskies bring in perhaps their strongest recruiting class ever, especially on the women’s side.  Washington became the envy of many when they landed top recruit Ariana Kukors along with Emilee Jennings, Ashley Daly, Russell Mahan, Ben Aaberg, transfer Evan Bernier, Andre Blyth and Samantha Dole.  

While their talent will be primarily in their freshman, Washington wont be depending solely on the newcomers to improve.  The Huskies will be counting on Kim Jasmer to continue the success that led her to final at NCAAs last year.  On the men’s side, Coach Hite will be looking to Scott Spansail and Ivan Perhat to lead.

While the Huskies have struggled at times in the past, the new young recruiting class combined with the leadership might just be the winning combo the Dawgs have been looking for.


University of California, Los Angeles
Coach:  Cyndi Gallagher
Pac-10 Finish: 4th
NCAA Finish: 15th

With the loss of NCAA finalists Katie Nelson and Katie Arnold to graduation along with NCAA qualifiers Amanda Blong, Sara Clark and Amy Thurman, the Bruins will have to look for new leadership. Diver Marisa Samaniego will hope to improve on last year’s All-American performance.  Also looking to build on last years NCAA momentum is fellow diver Tess Scholfield.  Nicolette Teo and Anna Poteete will have to improve on this past year’s performances that led them to qualify for nationals and Chiemi Yamamoto will try and recapture the magic that qualified her for NCAAs a few years ago.  Incoming freshman Brittany Beauchan, Emily Bibb, Lauren Hall, Samantha VandenBerge will need to step it up immediately in order to help the Bruins.

While the Bruins aren’t quite as strong on paper as they have been in the past, they are returning some good leadership and talent that may lead them to success.

Washington State University
Coach: Erica Quam
Pac-10 Finish: 9th
NCAA Finish: 34th

The Cougs lost perhaps the greatest swimmer in WSU history when Erin McCleave graduated after last season.  McCleave accounted for most of the Cougars Pac-10 and all of their NCAA points from last year.  Along with McCleave, WSU lost key scorers Kayli Changstrom and Monika Povilonyte to graduation as well. While it will be hard to fill the gap left by these three, the Cougs will do their best.  Several swimmers who swam well last year will have to continue improving this season.  Swedish butterfly standout Michaela Ahlin will hope to build on the success she experienced this summer while Afton Pickett will provide depth in all events. Additionally, the Cougs will hope that incoming freshman Sierra Burton will make an immediate impact.

The Cougars will feel the loss of a swimmer as versatile and talented as McCleave, but fortuantely for WSU, there are several new faces looking to step up.

Arizona State University
Coach:  Mike Chasson
Pac-10 Finish: Men: 5th    Women: 6th
NCAA Finish:  Men: 22nd    Women:  16th

The Sun Devils have assembled a strong team that may lead to their most successful season yet.  

The women will be lead by diverse senior Caitlin Andrew.  Andrew, a top three finalist at last year’s NCAA Championships, will hope to continue the improvement which has led to her become one of the most promising swimmers today.  Joining Andrew in leading the Devils this season are fellow NCAA qualifiers Jen Beckberger, Jess Perazzo, Lindsey Brown and Sara McDaniel.

The men will look to IM specialists Gal Nevo and CJ Nuess as well as Diver Micky Benedetti to lead this season.  Also playing an equally critical role to the Devil’s success will be distance freestyler Lucas Azevedo and back and fly specialist Ante Cvitkovic.  Incoming freshman


University of Arizona
Coach: Frank Busch
Pac-10 Finish: Men: 3rd   Women: 1st
NCAA Finish:  Men: 3rd Women: 2nd

Arizona is coming off one of their most successful seasons yet, with the women finishing 2nd and the men coming in at 3rd at Nationals.  Unfortunately, like many of the schools, the Wildcats lost some of their key scorers to graduation.  The biggest loss is Whitney Myers, last year’s Pac-10 swimmer of the year and NCAA Champion.  
Fortunately for the Lady Wildcats, the depth that led them to such success last year will still be there this year.  Leading the way will be NCAA Champion Lacey Nymeyer as well as Lara Jackson, Anna Turner, Lindsey Kelly, Hailey DeGolia, and Annie Chandler.

On the men’s side, the loss to graduation of Adam Ritter will be felt deeply.  Luckily for the Wildcats, Albert Subirats and Darian Townsend return with the taste of an individual NCAA title still fresh.  Additionally Nicolas Nilo and Jean Basson round out the returning All-Americans.  Top ranked incoming freshman Cory Chitwood should contribute immediately as should Marshall Dilworth, Adam Small, Austin Thompson, and Sam Weinstein.


Stanford University
Coach: Men: Skip Kenney  Women: Lea Maurer
Pac-10 Finish:  Men: 1st   Women: 2nd
NCAA Finish:  Men: 2nd  Women:  4th  

Last year’s fourth place national finish hopefully left the Stanford women hungry to break in to the top three and willing to work for it.  While the Cardinal did lose some to graduation, they hold on to some impressive depth.  Brooke Bishop, Elaine Breeden, Caroline Bruce, Madeline Rovira and Julia Smit lead a talented squad.  Additionally Andrea Axtell, Elizabeth Durot, Nilasha Ghosh, Kelley Hug, Fiona O’Donnell-McCarthy, and Caroline Rodriguez will need to continue the success that qualified them for NCAAs last season.  Incoming freshman Kate Dwelley and Elizabeth Smith will need to contribute immediately if the Cardinal want to have a shot at winning it all.

The Stanford Men have had a challenging year.  Even with the controversy surrounding Skip Kenney, the Cardinal Men still managed to have a great season, even without their legendary coach at Nationals.  The Stanford team will have yet another challenge to rise to this season as they have a large gap left from graduation.  Top swimmers Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Hongzhe Sun, Kyle Ransom, Andy Grant, Matt Crowe, Keenan Newman, and Shaun Phillips all scored at last years NCAAs and all graduated.  Because of the huge loss of points due to graduation, Stanford will be looking to a few new and a few older faces to lead the way this year.  Among those returning will be Nate Cass and Paul Kornfeld who will need to continue their NCAA scoring ways from last year.  Although the Cardinal lost quite a few this past year, they did manage to sign a very strong recruiting class including John Criste, Scotty Korotkin, Chad La Tourette, Davind Mosko, and Austin Staab.  

University of Southern California
Coach: Dave Salo
Pac-10 Finish:  Men:  3rd  Women: 5th
NCAA Finish: Men: 9th Women: 20th

Many people wondered how Dave Salo would do once he was in the world of college coaching and last year proved to be a challenging one.  The Trojans look to learn from last year and return to the ways that led them to consistent top five finishes in the late 90s and early 00s.  For the Trojan women, Rebecca Soni will be leading the way after a great summer and individual championship from last season.  Kristen Lahey and Hayley McGregory along with Katy Houston, Missy McIntyre, Brittany Allen, Emily Goetsch, Whitney Hentzen will use their experience from last year’s nationals to lead this year.  

On the men’s side, the losses of Larsen Jensen, Sam Masson, Sean Sussex, Michael Hilde, Mihaly Flaskay, Kenny Jenkins and Viktor Bodrogi to graduation will leave a large gap both in points and leadership.  Bryce Elser, Tyler Wilson, Vanni Mangoni, and Richard Gosper will have to step up and lead the way, drawing from their experiences last year at NCAAs.  Incoming freshman Dillon Connolly, Jake Grosser and Buddy Turner along with a handful of other talented newcomers will all need to improve if the Trojans want to make 2008 their year.

University of California, Berkeley
Coach: Men: Dave Durden  Women: Teri McKeever
Pac-10 Finish:  Men: 2nd   Women:  3rd
NCAA Finish:  Men: 8th  Women: 3rd

The Cal Women look to improve upon last year’s third place finish at nationals.  And, like all teams here, the Bears suffer some big losses to graduation.  Namely Lauren Andrews, Annie Babicz, Erin Reilly, and Sherry Tsai who all scored at NCAAs last year.  Cal fortunately, has one of the deepest and most talented squads out there.  Leading the way will be Dana Vollmer and Jessica Hardy—both winning individual titles.  Lauren Rogers, Emily Silver, Rachel Ridgeway, Leanne Toomey, Laruen Boyle, Alexandra Ellis, Courtney Eronemo, Blake Hayter, and Heather White all round out the extremely deep returning upperclassmen with national experience.  

The Cal Men have been the center of rumor and controversy the past month with the departure of their historic head coach Nort Thornton and long time coach Mike Bottom.  Only a few weeks ago did the Bears announce the hiring of Maryland Head Coach Dave Durden.  The first thing Durden needs to work on is filling the void left by Daniel Lysaught and Patrick O’Neil from graduation.  Upperclassmen Nathan Adrian, Guy Barena, William Copeland, Mark Eckert, Jernej Godec, Richard Hunter, Dominik Meichtry, David Russell, Louis Vayo and Joe Whittington all return more experienced from last year’s nationals.  Coach Durden definitely has his work cut out for him, but with such a talent rich team, the Bears may be able to break in to the top five.

Oregon State University
Coach: Larry Liebowitz
Pac-10 Finish:  7th
NCAA Finish: 29th

Oregon State looks to improve on last years 7th place conference finish as well as break in to the top 25 nationally.  Led by Saori Haruguchi, the Beavers lone individual NCAA Qualifier, Oregon State needs to improve upon the depth.  Anna Crandall, Kayla Rawlings, and Brittney Iverson all gained valuable national experience last year in the relays and hope to gain individual swims this year.  Incoming freshman Kelly Forrester and Keri Holmstrom bring talent to a team that will need its existing upperclassmen to step up and show leadership if they want to keep improving.