By
Lindsey Manroel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona rounds off its spring season on top
It was a season that few members of the UA men's swimming and diving team will soon forget.
Stiffened by a young squad of inexperienced swimmers, the men finished in seventh place in the Pacific 10 Conference, an accomplishment by their standards.
"It was a very good year for the guys," head coach Frank Busch said. "We had a lot of obstacles to overcome and had to make a lot of adjustments. I thought we did a very good job at that."
Diver Omar Ojeda led the Wildcats to a fourth-place finish at the Pac-10 Championships, winning the one-meter, three-meter and platform events.
Ojeda's performance left coaches and teammates in awe.
"That guys is probably the greatest male diver this university has ever seen," Busch said. "His performances were tremendous. We were a couple swimmers shy to the meets and he really just filled in the void for us."
Following the Pac-10, Ojeda would do it again - this time with the help from teammate, Ruben Vaca.
The two brought home another sweep to Arizona with stellar performances at the 2001 Zone E Diving Championships.
Vaca took over where Ojeda left off and captured first place on the platform event.
The 2001 NCAA Championships proved to be successful for Arizona as it drew to a close its spring season.
Arizona captured sixth place behind the back-to-back champions, the Longhorns from the University of Texas.
Setting a school record, Ojeda placed third on the 10-meter platform.
The 400 yard freestyle relay team consisting of Eric la Fleur, Roland Schoeman, Jay Schryver and Scott Gaskins placed third, recording a time of 2 minutes, 53.17 seconds.
Sophomore Jeff Dash found himself in sixth place in the 200 yard butterfly. Dash touched the wall at a time of 1:44.79.
Junior Roland Schoeman was the runner-up in the 100 yard freestyle, recording a time of 42.58.
Senior Tyler Painter rounded off the Wildcats' success with a seventh- place finish in the championship finals of the 1,650 yard freestyle.
With the year over and the 2002 season in mind, the Wildcats will face the loss of Gaskins, Painter and Schryver.
"We've tackled a lot of adversity and I think we really held it together," junior Kris Souther said. "We had a lot of people who struggled earlier in the year, but I think we definitely figured out how to swim under pressure.
"Every year it seems to be getting closer and closer. We are on the rise."
