Cal Takes Pac-10 Lead On Day One

Cougar Swimmers Make History
For the first time in the history of Washington State swimming, the program will be sending three swimmers to the NCAA Championships March 19-21.
 
Senior Elyse Peterson, junior Michaela Ahlin and sophomore Rugile Mileisyte will all make their first appearances at the NCAA Championships traveling to College Station, Texas for the event hosted by Texas A&M University.
 
Ahlin will become the fourth Cougar swimmer to compete in three events swimming in the 500 freestyle as well as the 100 and 200 butterfly. She holds the WSU record in both fly events and is ranked second on the Cougar all-time top 10 list in the 500 free. She is seeded 28th in the 200 fly, 49th in the 100 fly and 56th in the 500 free. Ahlin set the WSU record for both the 100 (53.72) and 200 fly (1:56.66) last weekend at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships as well as swimming a lifetime best in the 500 free (4:43.46).
 
Peterson will be swimming in the 100 breaststroke after breaking her own WSU record in the event at the Pac-10 Championships with a time of 1:00.92, seeding her 30th among the field. She will also be competing in the 200 breast, which she also holds the WSU record in with a time of 2:13.36. She is seeded 48th in that event.
 
Mileisyte will be competing in the 50 free after breaking the WSU record in the event with her lead off in the 200 free relay at the Pac-10 Championships. The sophomore swam a split time of 22.45 and is seeded 35th in the event. She is seeded 61st in her second event, the 100 back after swimming a lifetime best in the event with a time of 54.88.
 
"I'm just really excited for our team and certainly these three that have worked so hard for this accomplishment," WSU Head Coach Erica Quam said. "I think it took our whole team pulling together for these guys to get to this level and I think they are set up really well. I really believe in them and I think that not only are they going to go, but they are going to go and swim faster."
 
Overall the Pacific-10 Conference will be sending 69 athletes to the NCAA Championship with Arizona sending a conference high 18.

Sun Devils in Fifth After Day One of Pac-10 Championships
The Arizona State men’s swimming team began their first day at the Pacific-10 Men’s Swimming Championships. The Sun Devils are currently in fifth with 54 points.
 
The 200 medley relay was the first event competed. The team of Max Laney, Tony Cisneros, Alex Hier and Magnus Kjellberg combined to clock in a season-best time of 1:29.74.
 
The Sun Devils earned an NCAA consideration time in the 800 free.  Sean Boyle, Vinicius Waked, Adrian Kirkpatrick and Xavier Mohammed, who made his Sun Devil debut, swam their way to a “B” standard of 6:30.05.

NO. 6 CAL MEN’S SWIMMING WINS PAC-10 200 MEDLEY RELAY
The No. 6-ranked California men's swimming and diving team started off the 2009 Pac-10 Championships on a high note by winning the meet’s first event, the 200 medley relay, in a Pac-10 meet and Golden Bear school record time of 1:23.98. The Cal team of senior backstroker David Russell, sophomore breaststroker Damir Dugonjic, sophomore butterflyer Graeme Moore and senior freestyler Bennett Clark topped the former conference meet record of 1:24.82 set by Stanford in 2005, and the former Bear record of 1:24.50 set last year at the NCAA championships.

“We were not as sharp as we could be, but we have three weeks until NCAAs to get even better,” said Cal coach David Durden. “But to set a Pac-10 meet and school record in the 200 medley relay is absolutely great. We have two returning members from last year’s relay, Damir and Dave, and we have improved, so that is definitely a positive.”

In Wednesday’s other event, the 800 free relay, the Bears’ team of sophomore Olympian Nathan Adrian, senior John Foster, junior Peter Davis and junior Matt Scanlan placed third behind Arizona and Stanford with a time of 6:20.49, topping the old Cal school record of 6:21.02 set in 2006.

Cal will next compete in the 500 freestyle, the 200 IM, the 50 free and the 200 freestyle relay during the second day of the ’09 Pac-10 Championships. Adrian is a favorite to capture the 50 free, owning the nation’s second-best time of 18.94, while the Bears are the defending Pac-10 champions in the 200 free relay.