DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Practice player Natalie Witmore defends a shot in a practice scrimmage earlier this week at the Student Recreation Center pool.

UA water polo team uses weights to get a leg up on competition at high altitude

Former UNLV men's basketball head coach Jerry Tarkanian is known for once telling his Runnin' Rebels that the altitude in Wyoming didn't matter because the game would be played inside. The UA women's water polo team learned first hand that the opposite is true, particularly in water.

Every game the No. 12 Wildcats (9-3) played this year was in the high altitudes of Utah, Colorado or Northern Arizona. Entering a rebuilding year after losing four of his team's seven starters, Arizona head coach Jeff Whitmore decided to use weight belts, something no other team he knows of uses, to offset the limited oxygen UA found during games.

"If you don't work hard, you're going to sink straight down to the bottom," Whitmore said. "There's seven pounds of lead in each one. I think that helped a lot; I think that it helped with leg strength that the game is built on."

Each practice, the athletes wore the belts for nearly an hour and half, starting off with five-pound belts and moving their way up.

"The first five pounds were pretty easy," said sophomore center Kristin Taylor. "Seven was like carrying a baby around your waist, a two year old."

The first five pounds were pretty easy. Seven was like carrying a baby around your waist, a two–year–old. Kristin Taylor sophomore center

After starting the season unranked, the Wildcats jumped into the rankings following their first tournament at NAU, where they went 4-0 highlighted by 14-3 win over the host Lumberjacks. Arizona eventually rose to a No. 12 ranking.

"It seemed like a good idea, they needed to be challenged," Whitmore said. "When I suggested it no one objected, they thought it was a good challenge."

When the Wildcats took off the belts they found themselves stronger.

"When you take the belts off you have 10 times more power," senior two meter set Rochelle Perper.

In addition to feeling stronger, the Wildcats also felt lighter.

"We started out low, five pounds, the first of couple practices were hard, (but) then you get used to it," said junior driver Edie Gobel. "It just makes you feel 10 times lighter."

DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Freshman driver Jenny Lawrence protects the ball from sophomore center Kristin Taylor during a scrimmage in practice Monday. The Wildcats finished the season 9-3 and ranked No. 12 after starting the year unranked.

Of the four starters lost from last season, the team had to learn to play without captain and high scorer Stacey Mitchell and Jen Hubrich, the fastest player on the team. Hubrich was "really our best player off our roster," Whitmore said.

"We went on a steep curb of improvement," Whitmore said. "For example, Utah. When we played the first time they beat us handily. Then the second time we played them we took them to overtime. We went right from the mid-level of the conference to the elite. We beat the conference champions so we considered ourselves leaving the tournament as one goal away from conference champions."

In the first half, the best player was freshman center Julie Voorhees, the top scorer. In the second half, Taylor, in addition to Perper and senior goalie Pam Morlock, shone, Whitmore said.

With the elevation at Utah, Air Force and Colorado all at or above 7,000 feet, the Wildcats, who train outdoors, had no way to train for the games. Since all the division foes play in cold places, all the games were inside where there is less oxygen and the same air is recirculating, Whitmore said.

"So you've got to have those weight belts," Whimore said.

Tucson is 2,600 feet above sea level.

"Elevation is a huge factor when you compete in the water," Gobel said. "Colorado Springs was the highest elevation we've ever competed at and you can really tell in the water."

The Wildcats followed their unexpected sweep at NAU with win over the eventual division champion, No. 12 Colorado, 13-12. The game went into overtime and eventually into sudden death overtime, where Taylor finished off the Buffalos. At the Southwest division championship, hosted by Air Force, the Wildcats pounded Colorado State's A team 20-5. Arizona then fell to No. 10 Utah in the semifinals in overtime, 11-9. The Wildcats followed that up with a win in the third place game, 11-9 over Air Force, which the UA led 5-0 at the end of the first quarter.

"We had Utah in our side of the bracket and that was a good game because we got down 6-2 and came back to get it into overtime," Whitmore said. "It was just too much fatigue at 7,200 feet and they had already swum three miles."

Taylor led the way for Arizona at the division championships with 13 goals.

"I have never seen the team play as well as we did this weekend. We gave Utah one of the toughest games they had to face," Perper said. "I am proud of how we performed and how far we have come."

The future appears bright for the Wildcats, who statistically were paced by underclassmen.

"Next year we will be anticipated as one of the toughest competitors for the championship," Perper said.