Oct. 20, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK
San Diego State will open its 2009-10 Mountain West Conference with a triple dual meet against Air Force, Colorado State and New Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 24. The meet gets underway at 1:00 p.m. (MT) at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
MWC PRESEASON POLL
San Diego State has been picked to finish third in the 2008-09 Mountain West Conference preseason poll as voted on by the league's head coaches. Brigham Young was tabbed as the favorite with seven first-place votes and 63 points. SDSU received one first-place vote. The third-place ranking is the highest for the Aztecs in the 11-year history of the MWC.
The complete MWC preseason poll is as follows:
Pl. Team (1st-Place Votes) Pts. 1. Brigham Young (7)........63 2. UNLV (1).................54 3. San Diego State (1)......49 4. Wyoming..................42 5. Colorado State...........38 6. Utah.....................30 7. TCU......................25 8. New Mexico...............14 9. Air Force.................9LAST WEEKEND
The San Diego State swimming team got its first taste of competition this fall as it hosted Cal in a non-scoring relay meet Saturday afternoon at the Aztec Aquatic Complex. SDSU concluded a successful day as it won three of the 10 events and narrowly missed capturing a fourth against the defending national champions. The meet consisted of 10 relays including seven non-traditional distances including three 300-yard and three 150-yard races.
The Aztecs captured the 300 (3x100) backstroke, 150 (3x50) breaststroke and the 200 yard freestyle events. In the 300 yard breast relay, the Golden Bear trio edged SDSU's threesome at the finish line by just nine-hundredths of a second.
RELAY TOP 10 TIMES
In the 200 free relay, the San Diego State quartet of Shelley Perkins, Tarin Corwin, Allison Stuhr and Allison Hall established a new Aztec Aquatic Center pool record with a time of 1:34.78. That mark was just .29 seconds off the SDSU school record time as well.
In that same event, the foursome of Stephanie Koch, Leona Jennings, Kim Bierwith and Emilee Jennings turned in a 1:37.62, a time that goes down as the 10th-best ever at SDSU. Seven of the eight members of those two relay teams are newcomers to the Aztec roster this season with Hall the only returning veteran.
TWO NEWCOMERS RECORD TOP 10 TIMES
Two individuals who led off their relays also turned in times that rank among the SDSU all-time top 10s as well. In the 300 breast relay, Katelyn Weddle's opening leg of 1:05.72 ranks as the 6th-best mark for the 100 breast. Additionally, Stephanie Koch's first 100 in the 400 free relay was clocked at 52.78, the eighth-fastest time by an SDSU swimmer.
TOP TIMES RETURNING
Eight of the 11 returnees turned in times last season that rank among the Aztec all-time top 10. Three of those swimmers are school record holders.
Brooke Vessey holds the San Diego State record in the 100 fly (55.69) while Shaida Solimani's 55.40 in the 100 backstroke is also an SDSU record. Senior Elena Karpeeva has the Aztec records in both the 200 back (1:57.76) and 200 IM (2:01.49).
Vessey also has recorded SDSU top 10 marks in the 50 free and 100 back. Solimani has done the same in the 50 free and 200 back. Karpeeva's other top 10 mark have come in the 100 back.
Other returning swimmers who have notched Aztec top 10 times in their events include: Kelsy Diener - 100 & 200 back, 200 IM Allison Hall - 100 & 200 fly Alexis McCoy - 50 & 100 free Jessica Morrill - 100 & 200 breast, 400 IM Kyla Power - 200, 500, 1000 & 1650 free
RANKED RECRUITING CLASS
SDSU's recruiting class for the coming season has been ranked fourth in the nation by CollegeSwimming.com. That group of newcomers includes two former NCAA Division I All-Americans plus five swimmers who earned All-America honors as high school athletes. Also included in that group are a pair of Olympic trials qualifiers plus a state swimmer of the year.
The NCAA All-Americans include senior Petra Radovic and junior Emilee Jennings, both of who come to SDSU from the University of Washington, which dropped swimming at the end of last season. A third four-year transfer is sophomore Tarin Corwin, one of the top high school sprinters in the nation two years ago, who was at Texas A&M last season.
The prep All-Americans include Meghan Zimmer (Pioneer Valley HS, Santa Maria, CA), Keri George (San Ramon Valley HS, Danville, CA), Stephanie Koch (Ames HS, Boone, IA) and Katelyn Weddle (Kofa HS, Yuma, AZ). Corwin also earned All-America honors at Blue Springs (Mo.) HS two years ago.
Other top newcomers include Melanie Garibaldi, an Olympic trials qualifier from Australia, along with Leona Jennings (sister of Emilee), who competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2008. Freshman Maureen Cardwell won a state title in Washington (butterfly). Shelley Perkins was a state swimmer of the year in Colorado and qualified for the junior nationals is the 50 free.
ON DECK
SDSU will have a week off from competition as it prepares to host its first scored meet of the season on Friday, Nov. 5. That meet will be a quadruple dual event with TCU, Idaho, San Diego and UC San Diego visiting the Aztec Aquaplex. Action will get underway at 2:00 p.m. (PT).