Men, women swimming teams winless over weekend

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Ryk Neethling won both the 500 and 1,000 meter freestyle events, but could not carry his team to victory as the Wildcats were swept last weekend by Stanford and California.

Both the men and women's swimming and diving teams were swept over this weekend by Stanford and California on the road.

"The Stanford meet was probably the best women's meet we've had against Stanford. We were very competitive throughout the meet," UA head coach Frank Busch said. "For the guys, Stanford looked very ready to swim, and we were about as competitive as we were going to be."

On Friday, the men's and women's teams lost to top-ranked Stanford by scores of by 150-85 and 161-137 respectively.

The Cardinal are a much deeper dual meet team than Arizona, but Busch has confidence his teams can swim well against them in the big meets later this season.

Different from basketball and football, dual meet records don't matter when it comes to postseason play. Swimmers who set NCAA standard times throughout the season qualify for NCAAs, which is by far the most important event on the calendar.

The more swimmers who qualify, the better a team's shot at a national championship.

Recognizing that the men's meet against Stanford was a "good old-fashioned butt kicking," Busch was happy with the intensity they showed.

"Our guys didn't roll over, they did well."

Senior captain Chris Counts agreed.

"Everyone swam well and raced really hard," he said. "We still had good races, and that shows how hard we've worked."

Sophomore Ryk Neethling and Laurie Kline led the Wildcats with victories in the 500 and 1,000-meter freestyle events against Stanford.

Arizona faced a number of obstacles in Berkeley on Saturday, including swimming in an indoor pool for the first time this season. The atmosphere may have been different, but that was no excuse for the Wildcat men (3-3) and women (5-3), who lost 155-87 and 129-114, respectively.

"I thought we performed well at parts of the meet, but not as well at other parts," Busch said. "I think we're a better team than Cal, and we'll show it at NCAAs."

The women's meet came down to the final event, the 400 free relay and the Golden Bears captured the meet when they won the event.

Kline won both the 500 and 1,000 free races for the second day in a row, while sophomore Denali Knapp placed first in the 200 backstroke.

Neethling continued his dominance as well, winning the 500 and 1,000 free races once again, plus the 200 free.

Cal came out fired up for this meet, as they haven't qualified nearly as many swimmers for the NCAAs as Arizona has.

Looking ahead to this weekend against Texas and Washington, Busch said he is just happy to stay in Tucson. Last week he returned from coaching the U.S. men's team in Australia at the World Championships, and felt that an immediate trip to the Bay Area was difficult.

His spirits haven't gone down, though, and he's looking forward to another busy weekend - at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.

"Texas will test our women. They've been one of the better teams in the country for the past few years," he said.