By
Lindsey Manroel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Junior diver breaks school record at NCAAs
In an attempt to regain its reputation among the country's elite programs, the Arizona men's swim and dive team garnered a sixth-place points finish at the NCAA Championships this weekend in College Station, Texas.
"It's the NCAA Championship, so it's the last stop of the season," head diving coach Michele Mitchell-Rocha said. "It's the best of the best and the stiffest competition of the year."
Crowned behind returning champions from the University of Texas (597.5) were Stanford (457.5), Tennessee (330.5), Southern California (299), Florida (265) and Arizona, who finished with 251 points.
Deemed as an incredibly fast competition, three NCAA records, three American records, three U.S. Open records and five pool records were broken in an attempt to take home a team victory.
"It was hands down the fastest NCAA Championship meet ever," sophomore Jeff Dash said.
Junior diver Omar Ojeda led the way for Arizona. In a third-place performance, the Wildcat broke another UA school record on the 10-meter platform with 562.80 points.
Teammate Ruben Vaca followed Ojeda. The UA junior came in 11th place with 464.95 points.
"Omar loves to compete, and he tends to dive up to the competition so the better the people are, the better he dives," Mitchell-Rocha said. "Ruben did a great job - he left the championships with his head held high, knowing that he contributed to the team.
"It's always fun to have a one-two punch, and the Ruben and Omar combo has been a nice asset to our team."
Arizona's swim team found individual success on the blocks as well.
UA's 400-meter freestyle relay touched the wall in third place, recording a time of 2:53.17. The team consisted of freshman Eric la Fleur, junior Roland Schoeman, and seniors Jay Schryver and Scott Gaskins.
Sophomore Jeff Dash and freshman Juan Veloz battled it out in the 200-meter butterfly.
Dash went on to take sixth place while Veloz touched for seventh with a time of 1:45.13.
In the 200-meter preliminaries, Veloz broke an Arizona school record - previously held by Dash who set the record at the 2000 NCAA Championships.
"I was really pleased with Juan for breaking my record," Dash said. "He swam really well, and I can't wait to keep battling it out with him next year."
Schoeman came up short in the 100-meter freestyle event. The Wildcat took home the meet's second place mark posting a time of 42.58 seconds.
Rounding off the Wildcats' individual success was senior Tyler Painter, who touched the wall for seventh place in the 1650-meter freestyle with a time of 14:52.78.
Arizona's victory marks the fourth year that the Wildcats have placed in the top six nationally.
With their regular season behind them and the postseason completed, Arizona's 2000-01 season was properly put to a close and its reputation restored.
"We are very excited," Dash said. "We are starting to make our mark on NCAA swimming. We're on the mark of being a true NCAA swimming dynasty."
