The University Athletic Association swimming and diving championship will take place this weekend as Case Western Reserve University travels to the University of Chicago’s Gerald Ratner Athletics Center. The Spartans travel to Chicago following a pair of late season surges as the men finished 14-2-1 overall, and were undefeated against Division III opponents. Meanwhile, the women finished 8-9 overall, and 4-1 in their last five meets with the sole loss coming by one point to Allegheny College.
The men finished third in 2012 while the women finished seventh. Emory won both the men’s and women’s conference championships last year.
The meet will take place from Feb. 13-16. The championship began on Wednesday afternoon as the men’s one-meter diving commenced. Thursday will mark the first day of swimming events and the women’s three-meter diving. Swimming and the men’s three-meter diving will take place on Friday, and women’s one-meter diving takes place on Saturday.
The No. 16 men enter the 2013 championship up six spots in the most recent College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll. The men are one of five UAA teams ranked in the poll. Defending conference champion Emory University is the top conference team at No. 6. No. 12 Chicago, No. 13 Carnegie Mellon University and No. 14 Washington University are the other men’s teams that are ranked.
There are four UAA women’s teams ranked in the top CSCAA poll as defending UAA and national champion Emory is No. 1. No. 9 Chicago is the only other team in the top 10, but No. 11 Washington is right outside on the cusp. No. 17 Carnegie Mellon is the only other team in the rankings, falling 10 spots from their previous ranking.
The rankings are based solely on how teams would fare in dual meets, rather than in the championship format that will be used at the UAA and NCAA championships.
The men are also 4-0 in conference meets so far this season, defeating No. 13 Carnegie Mellon 208-160, Brandeis 306-52, New York, 250-120, and Rochester 244-124 at the UAA Invitational on Oct. 26-27.
Results: Men 1-Meter Diving
The women went 1-3 in UAA play this year. They beat the newly reformed program at Brandeis 296-67, but fell to No. 17 Carnegie Mellon 225-143, New York 198-169, and Rochester 224-146.
Sophomore Eric Haufler is ranked seventh in the UAA this season with a time of 21.30 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. Sophomore Elliott Kerbel is 12th with a time of 21.43 seconds, while junior Gus Bailey is right behind him with a time of 21.51 seconds.
Eric Haufler is also seeded 12th in the 100-yard butterfly with a seed time of 50.55 seconds
Junior Scott McHenry is seeded sixth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.43. Eric Haufler is ninth with a time of 1:43.84.
Junior Sean Nickley is eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.36. Nickley is also seeded sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:07.29.
Sophomore Andrew Bollinger is the Spartan men’s highest ranked individual seed with a fifth-place time of 52.05 in the 100-yard backstroke. Sophomore Alex Haufler is also ranked in the top-12 with an eleventh-place seed time of 53.51.
Freshman Aaron Tam is seeded eleventh in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 16 minutes, 48.42 seconds.
Alex Haufler is also seeded tenth in the 200-yard backstroke and Bollinger is seeded 12th with times of 1:56.88 and 1:57.57, respectively.
Junior Maggie Dillione is seeded second in the 100-yard butterfly with a B-Cut time of 56.25 seconds. Dillione has also surpassed last year’s selection time for the NCAA Championship and is under a second from the A-Cut of 55.62 seconds. Dillione is also seeded fifth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:06.00, good enough for a selection last year and a B-Cut. The A-cut for the event is 2:02.93. Dillione is also seeded 12th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.56.
Junior Sara Tillie is seeded 12th in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys with times of 2:10.29 and 4:39.46, respectively.
The Spartan performances this weekend will determine their eligibility for the 2013 NCAA Division III Championship. That meet will take place Mar. 20-23 in Shenandoah, TX at the Conroe Natatorium.