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Men finish 4th at Pac-10 Championships

[Picture]

Matt Capowski
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Senior Ryk Neethling mentally prepares during a recent practice at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Neethling was the lone Wildcat individual winner at last weekend's Pac-10 Championships as he captured the 1650- and 500-yard freestyle events.

By Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat, March 6, 2000		Talk about this story

When the season began, the Arizona men's swimming and diving team had one goal and that was to win the NCAA Championships. Winning the Pacific 10 Conference Championships was not one of their goals, and it showed last weekend.

The Wildcats finished fourth in the Pac-10 with a combined score of 468, which was 326 points behind first place Stanford.

Sophomore Roland Schoeman downplayed the loss by saying "we were always looking to go in and finish as high as possible but we realize NCAA's is what we want."

The lone highlight for the men came from senior All-American Ryk Neethling, who captured the only two individual titles for the Wildcats.

Neethling won his fourth consecutive title in the 1650-yard freestyle, and his third consecutive title in the 500 free. His time of 14:36.32 in the 1650 was 31 seconds faster than the second place finisher.

Neethling also placed second in the 200 free.

Aside from Neethling, the Wildcats got strong performances from its relay teams.

The 200 medley relay team composed of Shoeman, junior Jay Schryver, and seniors Rob Henikman and Coley Stickels finished third with a time of 1:21.32.

Also finishing strong was UA's 800 free relay team of Schryver, senior Nat Lewis, Neethling, and junior Scott Gaskins who finished fifth with a time of 6:33.88

"I think I swam really well," Lewis said. "I think we had some great unshaven swims."

Many of the Wildcats' times were off since they were not tapered.

Schoeman, the nation's No. 1 swimmer in the 50 free, clocked a time of 19.76, which was good enough for a fourth place.

Schoeman also showed that he is going to be a contender at the NCAA Championships after he swam the 100 freestyle in 43.44.

The time was good enough for a third place finish.

"I am really happy with my performance in all my events," Schoeman said. "My 100 fly and 100 free were my best unshaven times."

Senior Matt Allen, who holds the nation's best time in the 100 backstroke, finished fifth with a time of 48.35.