Feb. 18-21 – at Sun Belt Conference Championships, Nashville, Tenn. – All Day
DENVER - The University of Denver men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams travel to Nashville, Tenn. this week to take part in the Sun Belt Conference Championships. The event will take place at Tracy Caulkins Pool Feb. 18-21.
The Pioneer men rank third behind Navy and defending champions Missouri State in the current CSCAA/CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major poll. While MSU will be the team to beat at this year’s SBC Championships, Western Kentucky has won the title three consecutive times from 2005-2007. WKU is currently ranked sixth in the Mid-Major poll.
Action will begin on Wednesday with the 200 Medley Relay, the men’s 3M diving and the 800 Freestyle Relays. On Thursday, swimmers will once again take to the pool for the 500 Freestyle, 200 IM, 50 Freestyle, women’s 3M diving and the 200 Freestyle Relay.
On Friday will be the 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke, men’s 1M diving and the 400 Medley Relay. Action will conclude on Saturday with the 1650 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, women’s 1M diving and the 400 Freestyle Relay.
Fans can follow the action via Real Time Results by clicking the following link: http://collegeswimming.us/results/SunBelt/, or by visiting www.DenverPioneers.com and clicking on the SBC Swimming and Diving Championship Central logo located on the men’s and women’s swimming and diving pages.
At the 2008 SBC Championships, Denver’s men won six events and took second place overall with 654 points.
The team was lead by senior Blake Worsley (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), who was named SBC Male Swimmer of the Year as a junior last year. Worsley won the 500-freestyle by five seconds, the 200-freestyle, the 100-freestyle and anchored the winning 800-freestyle Relay in Denver’s first NCAA “B” standard relay. He broke the conference records in his 500, 200 and 100-freestyle races. Denver also chose him to represent the team in the 500-free at the NCAA Championships, becoming the first male to qualify since the program returned to Division 1 in 1998. Worsley earned the school’s first-ever All-America honors last year and also holds DU’s fastest season times in the 50-free (20.59), the 100-free (44.29), the 200-free (1:36.70) and the 500-free (4:20.38). In addition, he is a member of DU’s fastest 400-freestyle relay team (3:05.31).
Senior Aaron Feight (Littleton, Colo.) will lead the men’s diving team at the championships this year. Last season, Feight became the first diver to compete at the NCAA Championships for DU since the program returned to Division I in 1998. He won the consolation final of the men’s 3-meter dive at the NCAA Championships to finish ninth overall with a score of 364.2, becoming DU's first diving All-American. Feight also won his third consecutive SBC Championship in the men’s 1-meter dive with a score of 357.40 and was named SBC Male Diver of the Year for third consecutive season.
The Pioneer women won eight events and earned third place in last year’s SBC Championships with 705 points behind WKU and Florida Atlantic, the only teams to ever have won the SBC title. The Pioneers also received consideration from the CSCAA/CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major poll.
Last year, senior Kelsey Totura (Castle Rock, Colo.) was involved in five of the eight wins, taking top titles in the 100 and 200 backstroke for the fourth year in a row, while also anchoring three winning relays. As a team, the Denver women broke six school records and two SBC championships records in the 50-free, and the 400-freestyle relay, and won the Team Academic Award for highest Team GPA. Totura and sophomore Grace Kittle (Dallas, Texas) both qualified for the NCAA championships, with Totura qualifying in the 200 backstroke and Kittle in the 200 meter breaststroke. Totura was also honored with the SBC Swimmer of the Year award for the second consecutive season.
This year, the Pioneers are led by senior Michele Lowry (Hailey, Idaho) who set a new school record this year in the 1650-free with a time of 16:50.37.
Denver is coming off a strong regular season finish over the Colorado School of Mines. The Pioneer men defeated the Orediggers 146-82, while the women posted a score of 144.5-72.5 over Mines. Feight set new DU pool records in both the 1M and 3M diving events during the meet, while freshman Elizabeth Yovich (Parker, Colo.) set new season-highs in both the 1M and 3M events for the women.
- PIONEERS -
