The Observer, February 16, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 17
UAA championships come to a close, Spartan swimmers look to nationals
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Case hosted the UAA conference swimming championships last week (Feb. 8-10) at the Veale Natatorium. The women's team finished seventh out of eight teams, while the men finished sixth. Neither team could overcome Emory's dominance in the pool, as the Eagle swimmers won both the men's and women's meets with scores of 1887 and 1724, respectively.
The team's finish did not dampen the swimmers' spirits after the meet. The three-day event included some great individual performances for several Case swimmers from each team.
"We had a blast swimming the championship meet at home, and despite our sixth place finish overall, we had many lifetime bests and competed well against the other UAA teams," said Pat Rodjom. "The UAA is always known for being the most elite and deepest conference in Division III."
Several of the most notable individual performances belonged to junior Lauren Preyss. She was named the UAA women's Swimmer of the Year for her wins in both the 100 and 200 yard freestyle events. At prelims on Friday morning, Preyss broke a UAA, school and pool record with a time of 1:50.89 (NCAA Division III qualifying time) in the 200-yard freestyle, only to win the event later that evening with a time of 1:51.47.
Again, Preyss set records in the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday morning, coming in at 51.76 (NCAA Division III qualifying time). Preyss then broke her own record later that evening with a time of 51.43, winning the event.
Joining Preyss at nationals from the men's team will be John Erickson and Rodjom. Erickson swam a 20.96 in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing third and earning a NCAA "B" Cut. He then came back to swim at 20.81 in his leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, setting a UAA and school record.
Finishing up his conference meet on Saturday, Erickson swam a 46.73 at prelims in the 100-yard freestyle, and he came back at night to swim a 46.91, earning a fifth place finish.
On Friday night, Rodjom won first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 57.70 and a NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time. The next evening, Rodjom finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:06.76, yet another NCAA Division III qualifying time. Rodjom and Erickson swam together, along with Drew Swartz and John Somerville, in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing second with a time of 1:34.58.
"The men's team is focusing on qualifying a 200 medley relay for the national championships in March. We'll be trying to improve our position this Saturday at the Kenyon Invitational," Rodjom said.
Other swimmers hope to use the upcoming Kenyon Invitational as their last chance to qualify for the Division III Championships. Junior Drew Kouri has set his goals on nationals in the 100-yard breaststroke, in which he finished third at the conference meet, and is looking to shave a second off his time to earn an automatic qualification.
