UA swimmers shine in Lone Star State

When the UA men's and women's swimming teams traveled to the Texas Invitational, coach Frank Busch was hoping for his team to record a few NCAA Championship qualifying times. He got what he wanted.

Over the first two days of competition, the Arizona teams amassed 14 qualifying positions for the championships in March.

Leading the way for the Wildcat women was freshman Erin Vogt who swam for three qualifying times in the 200-yard individual medley, 100 butterfly and the 400 IM. In the process, Vogt broke the Arizona school record in the 400 IM with a time of 4 minutes, 14.52 seconds.

Also for the women, freshman Sarah Tolar turned in a strong performance. In a school record breaking race in the 200 freestyle, Tolar swam for an automatic NCAA time of 1:45.14. Tolar qualified in the 500 free where she swam for a first place time of 4:42.19.

For the Wildcat men, junior Nat Lewis took home the 500 free title and an automatic championship time. Sophomore Jay Schryver notched his spot at the NCAAs in the 200 free, while junior Matt Allen did the same when he captured the title of the 100 backstroke. The Arizona men also swam for an auto-time in the 200 medley relay.

In competition Friday and Saturday, Arizona swimmers were victorious in nine of 22 events and finished second place seven times.

Results for the events held yesterday were not available at press time.