Nov. 5, 2002
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THIS WEEK
San Diego State will travel to Albuquerque to participate in a quadrangular dual meet with Mountain West Conference foes New Mexico and Brigham Young as well as Northern Arizona. That meet will take place on the UNM campus Thursday evening (Nov. 7) at 6:00 p.m. The Aztecs will remain in Albuquerque Friday and Saturday to participate in the New Mexico Invitational at the same venue.
COACHING STAFF
San Diego State head coach Deena Schmidt is in her ninth season as head coach of the Aztec swimming and diving program. The former Olympian, who won a gold as a member of the 400 medley relay team at the 1972 Olympics, is a 1988 graduate of San Diego State. Schmidt is assisted by Greg Hutt, also in his ninth season.
RAY & JOAN KROC COMMUNITY CENTER
San Diego State will hold its home meets this season at the newly completed Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center pool. The facility opened this past summer and is located at 6845 University Avenue. The Aztecs hold their daily practice sessions from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the City Heights Pool.
USD RECAP
Last Saturday's meet at University of San Diego went down to the final event before San Diego State pulled out the 152-149 win over the Toreros. With USD leading by a point, it came down to the 400 freestyle relay. The SDSU foursome of Sarah Lattus, Amy Osback, Emily Schmied and Erin Kilpatrick won by 1.73 seconds (time of 3:36.17) to wrap up the meet in the Aztecs' favor. A new best team time for the season was set by freshman Nicole Castelyn in the 200 backstroke at 2:10.23. In addition to the 400 free relay, a season best was set by the 200 medley team of Aletta Haff, Jill Karacozoff, Emily Schmied and, Lattus (1:51.85).
KILPATRICK LEADS THE WAY
Senior Erin Kilpatrick had an excellent day at the USD meet last weekend. Not only did she anchor the meet-winning 400 freestyle relay team, she also took first in the 1000 freestyle in her first attempt at that event this season. In addition, she finished second in the 200 butterfly (2:12.47) and third in the 100 butterfly (1:00.19) to account for 27 points on the day.
LATTUS CONTRIBUTES IN FOUR EVENTS
Sarah Lattus captured the 50 free at USD in a time of 25.08, just over her personal best of 25.00 set at the conference championship meet last season. She also turned in a third-place finish in the 100 free (54.95) and was also on the winning 400 free relay team and second-place 200 IM team.
KILIAN'S FIRST FIRST
Freshman Alexis Kilian picked up her initial first-place finish of the young season, winning the 100 backstroke (1:01.15) at the USD meet. She also finished second in the 200 back at 2:10.83. She had previously recorded a second and third place in those two events in the other meet in which she has participated this fall (at UNLV, 10/19).
RYAN BREAKS THROUGH
In her third meet this season, junior Hannah Ryan won the 500 free in a personal season best time of 5:10.19. She recorded SDSU's top time in the 200 free earlier this season when she went 1:55.62 at UNLV in the season opener.
SCHMIED A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY
Freshman Emily Schmied continued to demonstrate her versatility, swimming four different events at last weekend's meet, finishing with a first and three seconds. She began by swimming the third leg of the 200 IM relay, then took second in the 100 free (54.52). Schmied later placed second in the 100 butterfly (59.73) before helping the Aztecs clinch the meet as the third leg on the winning 400 freestyle relay squad.
PRESEASON PICKS
San Diego State has been picked to finish sixth in the Mountain West Conference this season by a poll of the league's coaches. The Aztecs were seventh at last season's MWC Championship meet. The complete preseason poll is as follows:
Team (1st place votes) Pts.1. BYU (6)...............472. Colorado State (1)....403. UNLV (1)..............394. Utah..................345. New Mexico............196. SDSU..................177. Air Force.............168. Wyoming...............12
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Nine members of this year's SDSU swim team are true freshmen while four others are sophomores. Only two seniors appear on the 2002-03 roster: Vicky Donnelly and Erin Kilpatrick. The Aztecs lost seven swimmers from last year's roster including senior standouts Megan Casillan, Heather DeFelice and Tara Johnson. That trio all set school records during the 2001-2002 campaign: Casillan - 100 and 200 back, DeFelice - 50 and 100 Free, 100 Breast, Johnson - 200 and 400 medley relays. Casillan and DeFelice were also members of the 200 and 400 medley relay teams.
THE SCHEDULE
For the first time since joining the Mountain West Conference, the league will crown a regular-season champion in addition to the conference meet champ. As a result, the Aztecs will swim dual meets against every other MWC school this season. The conference dual meet schedule will be concluded by Nov. 23.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Aztecs will host their second meet of the season when Air Force pays a visit on Saturday, November 16. Competition gets underway at 9:00 a.m. at the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center. The meet will be SDSU's final home contest of the year.