UA swimming team seeks national title this season

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior distance swimmer Ryk Neethling, pictured swimming at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center, is competing in the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. The Wildcats will face New Mexico during Homecoming Weekend for their first meet.

"We have almost the exact same team," assistant coach Eric Hansen said. "We only lost two men last year and this year there are no seniors on the team."

Among the veterans is Ryk Neethling, a distance swimmer from South Africa and the defending NCAA champion in three events.

Neethling left yesterday to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. He will be swimming the 200 meter, 400 meter and the mile.

Neethling, who claimed a fifth place finish in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, said that the field of swimmers going to the Commonwealth Games are among the best.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, everybody in my events, except for one Italian, will be going to the games so it will be just as good as the Olympics," Neethling said.

A fellow teammate from South Africa, Roland Schoeman, will be one of the top sprinters for the UA men when he joins the team in December, Hansen said.

Nat Lewis, an All-American transfer from Kentucky, Peter Johnson, an American from Guam, and Coly Stickles, a transfer from Florida, are powerful additions to the men's team, Hansen said.

"Most of the women coming onto the team already have international experience," Hansen said. "Some of the freshmen went to the Goodwill Games and others have represented the United States in Europe."

Hansen said that to say that this year's freshmen are going to have a huge impact is an understatement.

"They are all talented and pretty focused," Hansen said.

This year's talent includes NCAA champion Rachel Joseph, a transfer from Florida, and freshmen Sarah Tollard, Amy Bouta and Katie Zimbone, who competed in the Goodwill Games.

Hansen said his goal for this year's team is progress.

With the women taking second and the men's team taking sixth at the NCAAs last year, it may seem like the Wildcats could easily climb the ranks.

But with Texas, Auburn and Stanford as significant opponents, Hansen said that the Wildcats' path to the top will be difficult.

"We are going to have to work hard, that's a given, but our team is strong after the club team won over the summer," Hansen said.

The club team, called HOT, Hillenbrand of Tucson, is just like another season for the team. Wildcat swimmers who train in Tucson over the summer swim for the club team, which this year won the U.S. Championships, Hansen said.

"Summer is equally important. Fifteen of our kids made the national team," Hansen said.

Head coach Frank Busch was named coach of the year for the club team.

"We are coming into the season with good momentum. This year will be awesome," Hansen said.

The first event for the Wildcats will be Oct. 10 in an intrasquad Pentathalon.

Their first opponent will be New Mexico during Homecoming weekend Nov. 7.

Hansen said that the meet should be an easy win for the Wildcats.

The teams began practice yesterday and are dividing their practice time between the pool

and the track.

"In the morning we are running and exercising and will probably spend the last hour of practice in the pool," said Angelique Rodriguez, a senior diver who transferred last year from University of Massachusetts.

Rodriguez, who redshirted last year, will be diving with a team that has been strengthening the past year.

"I have seen a lot of improvements this last year. They moved from fourth to second in the country," Rodriguez said.

One diver to watch this year will be Lindsay Barriman, originally from Phoenix and a transfer from Auburn. Ranked 10th in the country in the 10 meter, Barriman also holds a 4.0 GPA.

"She's the best sophomore on the team," diving coach Michele Mitchell-Rocha said.

Typically, two divers will compete in each meet this season, but they will have to wait until the Wildcats' meet with Southern Cal Nov. 13 because the Lobos don't have a diving team, Rodriguez said.

Rachel Carasso can be reached via e-mail at Rachel.Carasso@

wildcat.arizona.edu.