Feb. 13, 2001
This Week
The San Diego State women's swim team (3-7 dual) will be in Oklahoma City Feb. 14-17 for the 2001 Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. Oklahoma City Community College will host the event for the second straight year.
The Schedule
All eight league schools will be in attendance with competition getting underway Wednesday at 10 a.m with the men's 1-meter springboard competition. Swimming action starts at 6 p.m. with the 200-yard free and medley relays.
A Year Ago
SDSU capped off last season with a sixth-place finish at the conference championships. The Aztecs had five swimmers with with top-eight finishes. Eleven Aztecs scored points as a member of a relay or on an individual basis. Meghan Casillan established herself as the league's best backstroker taking the 100 (56.77) and the 200 (2:04.86). Those times are the fastest times ever by an Aztec in those events. Heather DeFelice scored more points than any other Aztec. The Culver City native was the only Aztec to score in all three events in which she competed, tallying 41 points.
Record Book
The Aztecs set three school records so far this season. Freshman Megan Storey is responsible for two of those swimming the 1,000 freestyle in 10:12.19 and the 1,650 in 16:49.91. The Aztecs also set a program best in 400 medley relay swimming the event in 3:48.94 at the UC Irvine Relay Invitational in January.
Lately
SDSU has spent the last two weeks preparing for the conference meet with its last competition resulting in a 148-56 loss to UNLV in Las Vegas on Jan. 29. Aztec junior Heather DeFelice scored a team season-best in the 200 breaststroke with a second-place (2:22.40) finish. Freshman Megan Storey earned two second-place finishes. She swam the 1,000 freestyle in 10:24.18 and the 500 free in 5:08.89.
On the List
The Aztecs have recorded a top-10 mark in all but three individual events on the Mountain West Conference's top-times list this season. Freshman Megan Storey owns the league's best time in both the 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle.
Sweeping the Win
The Aztecs have placed first in 35 events this season with 28 of those wins coming by way of five athletes - juniors Meghan Casillan and Heather DeFelice, sophomore Erin Kilpatrick and freshmen Megan Storey and Hannah Ryan. Storey leads the group with 12 wins. DeFelice has earned seven, Casillan, Kilpatrick and Ryan three each.
Here's the Storey
The Aztecs' recruiting class was touted as the best since the program was reinstated in 1994. One of those newcomers, freshman Megan Storey (Edmonds, Wash.), is definitely strengthening that claim. Storey is the only Aztec thus far this season to have earned an NCAA consideration mark, doing so with her second-place (16:49.91) finish in the 1,650 free at the Speedo Cup. Storey has placed in the top three 18 times this season, including first in 12 events. Her most recent victory came against Hawai'i where she earned a win in the 500 freestyle clocking in at 5:02.38 and posting a win in that event for the third-straight week. She has won the 500 free in all but two (Colorado State, Nov. 17 and UNLV Jan. 29) of the Aztecs' dual meets this season and all but three (CSU, Hawai'i Jan. 19 and UNLV Jan. 29) duals in the 1,000 free. Storey also holds the Mountain West Conference's best times this season in the 1,000 freestyle (10:12.19) and the 1,650 free (16:49.91) and the third best in the 500 free (5:00.85). Storey's mark in the 1,000 free puts her atop the Aztecs' all-time bests list, bettering the mark of 10:19.99 set by Kathy Hall during the 1982-83 season. Her time in the 1,650 is also a program record, bettering the mark set by Kathy Palmer during the 1981-82 campaign. This past summer Storey climbed into the swimming world's record book, placing among the top 50 in the world in the 1,500-meter freestyle with a time of 17:08.05. She is also the only Aztec to earn the league's swimmer of the week honor this season doing so for the period ending Jan. 31.
Keeping the Pace
Junior Heather DeFelice, who had three top-six finishes at last year's Mountain West Conference meet, has been pacing the team this season as well. She has placed in the top four 16 times this season, with seven first-place finishes. DeFelice set a new season best with her first-place (1:05.70) finish in the 100 breaststroke in the team's double-dual meet with UC Irvine and Fresno State on Jan. 13. That time is fourth best on the conference's top-times list. In the meet against UNLV on Jan. 29 she set the team's season best in the 200 breast (2:22.40) good enough for seventh on the league's top times in that event.
Also Keeping the Pace
Junior Meghan Casillan, last season's top backstroker in the Mountain West Conference, is following suit this season with nine top-three finishes in backstroke events, including three first-place marks. Casillan is listed third (58.37) in the 100 back and 11th (2:08.42) in the 200 back on the MWC's top-times list. The 58.37 time in the 100 back was set in the Speedo Cup on Dec. 1 and is a season best.