Swimmer Ferns breaks pair of school recordS

Austin, Texas ÷ The UA men's and women's swimming teams completed their three-day competition at the 2003 Texas Invitational on Saturday, with sophomore Lyndon Ferns breaking two records in the meet for Arizona.

Ferns swam the 100-yard freestyle in 42.40, breaking the Arizona school record held by NCAA champion Roland Schoeman, who set the record of 42.56 in 2000. Ferns later broke the 49-second mark swimming the 100-meter freestyle in 48.99, breaking the South African national record held by former Arizona Wildcat Ryk Neethling.

Seniors Luis Rojas and Eric La Fleur posted NCAA championship qualifying times in the 100-yard freestyle with times of 43.17 and 43.47 respectively. Senior Juan Veloz also posted an NCAA championship qualifying time in the 200-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:43.50. Sophomore Tyler DeBerry earned a qualifying time in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:10.56.

For the women, junior Jessica Hayes posted a personal best (1:56.07) in the 200-yard backstroke, qualifying for the NCAA championships. Junior Emily Mason had an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA championships in the 200-yard butterfly with a mark of 2:12.46. Freshman Whitney Myers posted an NCAA consideration time of 2:13.43 in the 200-yard butterfly.

Arizona will resume competition on Friday, Jan. 9 when the Wildcats host Missouri, Purdue and Northern Arizona at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center at 2 p.m.

Swim and dive sign six recruits for 2004-05

The swimming and diving teams signed six student-athletes to National Letters-of-Intent for the 2004-05 season, head coach Frank Busch announced Friday.

The women's team signed Tucson local Lacey Nymeyer and Courtney Cashion from Irvine, Calif. Nymeyer, a Mountain View High School senior, is the 2003 Arizona state champion in the 50- and 100-freestyle events. Cashion held the high school national record in the 100 freestyle during the 2002-03 season.

"This is one of the best recruiting seasons our program has ever had," Busch said.

On the men's side, Arizona signed Ivan Barnes, Nick Thoman, Matt Biel and Jonas Persson. Barnes, who hails from Plano, Texas, is the Texas state champion in the breaststroke for the 2002-03 season. Thoman, from Cincinnati, Ohio, was named the Ohio state champion in the backstroke in 2003.

Biel, a Clayon, Calif., native, is a 16-year-old long distance and freestyle swimmer. Persson, an international competitor from Malmoe, Sweden, rounds out the recruiting class for Arizona next season.

"The athletes we have signed are at the national level as high school students," assistant coach Greg Rhodengaugh said. "They will be nice additions to the team."

Three Cats honored by tennis association

The Arizona men's tennis team received two regional rankings as administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Senior Tom Lloyd claimed the only singles ranking while the team of Colin O'Grady and Roger Matalonga received a doubles ranking.

Lloyd finished 7-3 in the fall competition and earned the No. 23 spot in the West Region. Two of his seven victories came over ranked opponents, including a win over the No. 30 ranked Alejandro Tejerina of Tulsa, 6-3, 3-0 retired, and No. 99 Khaled El Dorry of Texas A&M, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (6). Last season, Lloyd earned a medical redshirt for a nagging back ailment.

The team of O'Grady and Matalonga earned the No. 15 ranking after finishing the fall 1-1. The duo earned its victory over Martin and Tezza of TCU, 8-2. Last season, the pair earned a 13-7 ranking including an eight-match winning streak.

The Wildcats will open their 2004 dual match season Jan. 19 as they host Northern Arizona.

Track and field gets four letters of intent

The UA received National Letters-of-Intent from four athletes, announced track and field head coach Fred Harvey last week. The Wildcats landed two pole-vaulters, a sprinter and a distance runner during the early signing period.

The Wildcats' distance squad scored a big commitment from Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte High School in Duarte, Calif. The Moroccan native was the Division III California state cross country champion in 2002 and 2003. He placed seventh at the 2002 Foot Locker High School Cross Country Championships, which was second among juniors. Trafeh won the 1,500 meters at the Mt. SAC High School Invitational, as well as placed fourth in the 3,200 meters at the California State Championships. He posts personal bests of 3:53.78 in the 1,500 meters, 8:55.87 in the 3,200 meters and 14:37.50 in the 5,000 meters.

Mike Hilbe of Chandler, Ariz. will join the men's squad after a very successful high school career at Hamilton High School. Hilbe's personal bests have been 21.74 seconds in the 200 meters and 48.16 in the indoor 400 meters, which ranked No. 2 in the nation last season. His ran a time of 1:54.90 in the 800 meters as a freshman, which still stands as one of the all-time best freshman marks. Hilbe's father was a 400-meter runner and was the head coach of the women's track and field team at the University of Hawaii.

Also joining the men's squad will be Andrew Rademacher of Hermitage, Penn. Rademacher has a personal best vault of 16 feet, 4 1-2 inches, and he cleared the 16-foot barrier five times during his junior season at Hickory High School. Rademacher has also been a standout on his school's varsity soccer team and has been known to compete in the decathlon as well.

Kacey Lundgren of Atascadero, Calif. will join the UA women for the 2004-05 season. Lundgren is a pole-vaulter with a personal best vault of 12 feet, 9 inches. She was the runner-up at the California State Championships in 2002.

The 2004 season gets underway for the men's and women's track and field squads at the Northwest Pole Vault Summit on Friday, January 17, in Reno, Nev.