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Neethling leads men's swimming team to best finish ever

Heading into the 1999-2000 season, the UA men's swimming and diving team knew it would only go as far as its 10 seniors could take them.

The seniors didn't disappoint either as finished fourth in the nation, the highest finish in team history.

"This is the best senior class that I have ever coached here at Arizona," said head coach Frank Busch, the Pac-10 Swimming Coach of the Year.

The Wildcats were led all season by senior captain Ryk Neethling, who was named the Pacific 10 Conference Swimmer of the Year for the fourth consecutive season.

More impressively, Neethling ended his career by adding two more national titles in the 200-and 400-meter freestyle to give him a career total of nine.

Neethling's South African counterpart, sophomore Roland Schoeman, also had an incredible year as he finished second in the nation in the 50-and 100m free-style at the NCAA Championships. In the 50m Schoeman swam in world record time, but it was not good enough to win as California's Anthony Ervin set the world record and captured the event.

"I have been on a lot of different teams and this is the best team that I have ever been on," senior diver Chris Lane said. "We all had great attitudes and we meshed well together."

"We all performed well and gave each other a lot of support. I could not of asked for a better season for my final year at Arizona."

The most important team victory was against Pac-10 rival Stanford, a team the Wildcats had never beaten. Arizona won the final relay to pull off the dramatic upset against the powerhouse Cardinal. It was the closest meet of the season for UA.

"That win catapulted us in the right direction," senior Rob Henikman said. "They are always the top team and this win showed us that it was our turn to be the best team in the Pac-10. This win made us all realize how good we could be."

Besides, the swimmers, the men's diving team also had their most successful year in school history.

Sophomore Ruben Vaca was named Pac-10 Men's Diver and Newcomer of the Year and head coach Michele Mitchell-Rocha was named Pac-10 Diving Coach of the Year.

Even with the loss of 10 seniors, Busch said he is confident next year's team can be as successful as the 1999-2000 team.

"We are losing a lot of leaders to graduation, but we are going to have a great senior class next year as well," Busch said. "We are going to have a lot of new faces and we are going to need our upcoming seniors to direct them and show them the important aspects of being a team."

Brian Penso can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.