Championship Preview: Sun Belt

Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving teams are set to compete in the 2009 Championships at the Tracy Caulkins Pool in Nashville, Tennessee this week, each team vying for the coveted crown.

The event will begin this Wednesday, Feb. 18 and will conclude on Saturday, Feb. 22. Sun Belt Conference men’s teams will swim in conjunction with the four Mid-American Conference men’s squads, making the event the largest collegiate conference meet.

On the men’s side, defending champion Missouri State is ranked second in the most recent CSCAA/CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major poll and will be the team to beat at this year’s event.  The Bears won seven-straight dual meets this season and placed first in multiple-team meets on seven different occasions. Led by senior Victor Riffel and Junior Nicolas Villarroel, Missouri State will look to capture its second-straight league title.

Missouri State, while poised to repeat as champions, will receive tough competition from Denver, New Orleans and WKU.  Denver is just one spot behind MSU in the current poll and paced by solid senior leadership from Blake Worlsey and Aaron Feight.  Worlsey, who currently holds four individual DU records in the 100, 200, 500 and 1000 free events, was named SBC Male Swimmer of the Year during his junior season and was selected to represent Denver in the 500 free at the NCAA Championships. Feight is a 12-time Sun Belt Conference Diver of the Week honoree, and two time Sun Belt Male Diver of the Year award winner. He became the first diver to compete at the NCAA Championships for DU since the program returned to Division I competition in 1998, finishing 9th overall with a score of 364.2 to become DU’s first diving All-American in this era. He holds the DU record in the 1M with a score of 371.6 and in the 3M with a score of 402.675.

WKU has three titles under its belt – winning the league championship from 2005-07 and is currently ranked seventh in the CollegeSwimming.com poll. New Orleans, fielding a men’s squad for the first time, is also listed among the top mid-major teams, holding down the ninth spot, while Florida Atlantic is 20th.

The Denver women, ranked third in the latest CSCAA/CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major poll, are likely to be the top contenders to claim the championship crown this season.  The Pioneers won four dual meets during the 2008-09 campaign, including a 190-157 victory over West Virginia. Since the inception of the sport in the Sun Belt, only WKU and Florida Atlantic have ever won women’s titles.

North Texas, ranked 11th in the same poll, will challenge the Pioneers for the conference championship this year. The Mean Green finished the regular season strong with a total of 10 broken records, including three each by Rosa Gentile and Emily Floyd. Floyd was also on the record-breaking 800 Freestyle Relay team with Alicia Hale, Angie Dworschack, and Erika Roach.

Florida Atlantic and New Orleans round out the Sun Belt Conference teams listed among the top 25, ranking 13th and 23rd, respectively.

The Sun Belt Conference began sponsoring women’s swimming and diving in 2001 and men’s swimming and diving in 2004. In 2006-07, the league welcomed associate members Evansville, Missouri State and Southern Illinois for competition in men’s swimming.

Western Kentucky University won all three men’s championship titles from 2005-07 with Missouri State claiming the title in 2008.  WKU won five straight women’s championships from ’01-05 and added another in 2008. FAU took top honors in 2006 and 2007 on the women’s side.
 
Joining the Sun Belt swimming and diving schools at the 2008 Championship were several institutions from the Mid-American Conference.  The addition of more student-athletes meant faster times across the board as 20 Sun Belt Championship records were broken at the 2008 Sun Belt Swimming and Diving Championships and 34 athletes posted times that qualified as NCAA “A” or “B” cuts.

Overall, the 2007-08 Sun Belt Conference swimming and diving season was the best and fastest in the conference’s history as two student-athletes competed in the NCAA Championships and were named All-Americans.  In addition, six divers competed in the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships.  Denver’s Blake Worsley finished tenth in the 500 freestyle, 41st in the 100 freestyle and 23rd in the 200 freestyle at the NCAA Championships.  Feight finished in the top 20 in both the one meter and three meter diving competitions picking up a ninth place finish in the three meter and a 19th place finish in the one meter.
 
Three men’s teams and four women’s teams also finished the season ranked in the top 25 in the Division 1 Mid-Major poll with six teams being ranked in the top 10.

The Tracy Caulkins Pool, located within the Centennial SportsPlex in Nashville, Tennessee will serve as the official site for the 2009 Sun Belt Conference/Mid-American Conference Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship.  The pool’s namesake, Olympic Medalist Tracy Caulkins, became the first American to set an American record and win an American title in each of the four swimming strokes. A 1985 graduate of the University of Florida, Caulkins began her illustrious swimming career at the young age of eight in Nashville, following her family’s move from Iowa.  Before retiring after the 1984 Olympics, she won 48 national championships, set 62 American records, set five world records and earned three Olympic gold medals. Caulkins was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame is 1990.

School Previews
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WKU Swimming And Diving Teams Ready For SBC Championships