Swimming and Diving

Swimmers & Divers In Long Beach & Arizona This Week

Swimmers & Divers In Long Beach & Arizona This WeekSwimmers & Divers In Long Beach & Arizona This Week

Nov. 16, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
San Diego State swimmers will compete at the Arena Invitational at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, Calif., from Thursday through Saturday (Nov. 18-20). The women's side of the event will feature 20 teams including nationally-ranked squads from Stanford (#1), California (#5) and UCLA (#24). Four schools from the Mountain West Conference will also compete including Brigham Young, Colorado State, UNLV and Utah.

The Aztec divers will be in Tucson, Ariz., for the Wildcat Diving Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona. The three-day meet (Nov. 18-20) will feature one event each day with the 1-meter on Thursday, 3-meter on Friday and platform on Saturday.

In addition, SDSU and Utah will score a dual meet with the results from the Arena Invitational and the Wildcat Diving Invitational.

HEAD COACH MIKE SHRADER
SDSU head coach Mike Shrader is in his fourth season with the Aztecs and has compiled a dual meet record of 37-13 (.740) during his tenure. Shrader was named the conference Coach of the Year at the conclusion of MWC championship meet each of the past two seasons (co-coach in 2009). His career record including eight seasons at Nevada stands at 126-25-1 (.832).

LAST TIME OUT
San Diego State picked up a pair of wins two weeks ago with a 173-127 decision over Brigham Young at the Aztec Aquaplex on Nov., 4 and a 173-123 victory at TCU on Nov. 6. The win over BYU was the first-ever for the Aztecs, who improved to 5-0 in the Mountain West Conference. The five league wins ties for the most in a season by SDSU as it equaled last year's MWC win total.

MWC SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
Katelyn Weddle was named the MWC Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 9 after her performance in the wins over BYU and TCU. She recorded first-place finishes in six events including a sweep of the breaststroke events in both meets. She also competed on the Aztecs' two first-place teams in the 200-yard medley relay events. It marks the second time that Weddle has won the league's weekly award after she picked up the honor last January as well.

FOUR MEETS, FOUR WEEKLY AWARDS
San Diego State has competed in meets during four weekends this season and has come away with the conference Swimmer of the Week award after each. In addition to Katelyn Weddle, other Aztecs to win the honor this fall include Leona Jennings (Sept. 28), Kelly Marquenie (Oct. 4) and Brooke Vessey (Oct. 26).

AZTECS ACHIEVE NATIONAL RANKING
San Diego State has been ranked 23rd in the national in the first poll of the season released by the College Swimming Coaches of America Association on Nov. 10. It marks the first time that the Aztecs have been ranked among the top 25 in the history of the program. SDSU received votes in the CSCAA poll during the 2009-10 campaign with its highest point total ranking it 33rd. The next poll is scheduled to be released on December 16.

IMPRESSIVE DIVING
Junior diver Kristen Meier had a stellar weekend during the contests vs. BYU and TCU two weeks ago as she captured the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events at both meets. In the win over Brigham Young, her mark of 289.35 in the 3-meter vs. BYU qualified her for the Zone Meet in March. In the meet at TCU two days later, Meier scored 311.63 in the 3-meter diving to set a new SDSU school record. That same day she turned in a mark of 268.05 in the 1-meter, a score that qualifies for the Zone Meet as well. That result also ranks as the second-highest score ever recorded in the 1-meter event by an Aztec diver. Meier was previously named the conference Diver of the Week for her performance during SDSU's meet in Albuquerque on Oct. 23.

TOP TIMES
After the first six weeks of the season, San Diego State swimmers have recorded the league's top times in six of the 13 individual swimming event that they have been contested far. (SDSU has not competed in the 1650 free this fall.) Those six top conference times are:

Event Swimmer Time500 Free....Kelly Marquenie...4:55.531000 Free...Kelly Marquenie...9:57.83100 Back....Leona Jennings......54.86200 Back....Leona Jennings....2:00.96100 Breast..Katelyn Weddle....1:02.06200 Breast..Katelyn Weddle....2:16.53In addition, the Aztecs also have the top time in the 200 medley relay, a 1:43.28 by the foursome of Leona Jennings, Katelyn Weddle, Brooke Vessey and Emilee Jennings. SDSU has the second-best times as well in the 100 and 200 free (Stephanie Koch) plus the 400 individual medley (Leona Jennings) as well as the 400 free relay (Marquenie, Koch, Emilee Jennings and Jessica Crider).