UA frosh Neethling swims his way to Pacific 10 Conference honors

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat UA freshman Ryk Neethling, shown after a race earlier this season, is already an NCAA Champion and the best swimmer in Africa, and now he is the Pacific 10 Conference's male swimmer of the year.

Neethling punctuated his rookie season at Arizona by winning the 1,650-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. with a time of 14 minutes, 53.30 seconds.

He also finished second in the 500 freestyle and 12th in the 200 freestyle.

"I had hoped to be this successful," Neethling said. "I kind of expected it so I am glad that I did it."

He is the third swimmer in UA history to capture the 1,650 NCAA crown. Former Arizona great Chad Carvin and current Oregon State head coach Marius Podkoscielny also won the event.

The connections to Carvin do not stop there. Neethling and Carvin had a friendly rivalry in practice throughout the year.

"We really push ourselves to the extremes," Neethling said. "We hate to lose in practice or let the other one win. So each practice is really good."

Neethling, a 6-foot, 3 inch native of Bloemfontein, South Africa, is the fourth Wildcat to win the swimmer of the year award. Carvin (1994), Seth Pepper (1993) and George DiCarlo (1984) also earned the conference's top honor.

Named his continent's top male swimmer in 1994 and 1995, Neethling finished fifth in the 1,500 freestyle and 10th in the 400 freestyle at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

Neethling said that all was not smooth sailing when he made his transition from international competition to college meets. In international competition, the pools are 50 yards long while colleges use shorter, 25-yard pools. That means that the amount of turns in a race doubles. That took some adjusting for Neethling.

"My first six months it was really hard to adjust," he said.

But adjusted he has. He is already looking to next year with both his goals already set out.

"I wasn't really happy with my times (in the NCAA's)," Neethling said. "I would like to improve and bring the team up a bit."