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Coaches Greg Wilson & Brandon Seider

Coach Matt Kredich

UC Santa Barbara Men's Swimming Takes First Place at Conference Meet
LONG BEACH, CA 2/21/04 - UC Santa Barbara won the 2004 conference title. The UC Santa Barbara men's squad ended Pacific's two-year reign with its 25th conference title. The Gauchos won seven events over the four-day period, including two relays. The Gauchos won the 200 Medley Relay with a 1:30.60 time and the 400 Medley Relay with a 3:20.01 time. Last season's champs, Pacific, finished in second place followed by UC Irvine. UC Santa Barbara's Gregg Wilson was named Men's Coach of the Year. It marks the 12th time Wilson wins the award. Eric Kock, Brent Nolan, and Jason Hardy came in first through third respectively in the 1650 freestyle. Scott Baer, Ryan Dingler, Grant Hurst, and Brian Mirkovich scored second in the 400 freestyle relay.

Team Points
UC Santa Barbara	887.0
Pacific	816.0
UC Irvine	751.0
Cal Poly	366.0
Cal State Northridge	267.0

Swimming Dominates A-10 Championship
Spiders Win With a 442.5 Point Cushin
BUFFALO, NY 2/21/04 - For the third consecutive year the University of Richmond topped the Atlantic 10 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Flickinger Aquatic Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
Sophomore Brooke Boncher (West Newbury, Mass.) and freshman Michelle Coombs (Newburgh, N.Y.) earned Most Outstanding Performer and Most Outstanding Rookie accolades, respectively, while head coach Matt Kredich was named Coach of the Year.
The Spiders earned 889.5 points over the three days, claiming 15 first-place finishes and breaking 10 school records. In the 100 freestyle, Boncher finished first and surpassed the Flickinger pool record with a time of 50.24, achieving the NCAA consideration standard, while junior Mary Adams (Williamsburg, Va.) touched first in the 200 breast in 2:18.60, breaking the prior A-10 record of 2:18.83. Boncher also became the first Spider in program history to automatically qualify for the NCAA championships in the 50 free (22.88), which she swam in the opening leg of the 200 medley relay. Freshmen Holly Hinds (Andover, Mass.) and Megan Riley (Towson, Md.) took first in the 1650 freestyle (16:54.47) and 200 fly (2:06.01), respectively. Adams, Boncher and Coombs teamed with senior Maureen Sabri (Chambersburg, Pa.) to win the 400 free relay in 3:23.72, also achieving NCAA consideration standards.

Coach Michael Chasson

Coach Steven Phillips

LONG BEACH, CA 2/25/04 -- Stanford and California jumped into the early lead at the 2004 Pac-10 Women's Swimming Championship as action got underway at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool Wednesday evening in Long Beach, CA. The Stanford Cardinals defended their championship in the 200 medley relay with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:39.87. Senior All-American Tara Kirk had a 27.09 split in the breast stroke portion of the relay. Megan Baumgartner (backstroke), Dana Kirk (butterfly) and Sarah Jones (freestyle) making up the other three legs. Arizona (1:40.49) and UCLA (1:40.88) each earned NCAA consideration times with their swims finishing second and third respectively. California, led by Olympian Natalie Coughlin, placed fourth at 1:41.28 with Arizona State finishing fifth with a season-best and NCAA consideration time of 1:41.78.
In the second and last event of the opening night of the championship, California set a Pac-10 meet record with a 7:08.13. Erin Reilly, Ashley Chandler, Micha Burden and Lauren Medina helped the Golden Bears to the victory. USC also bettered the previous meet record with a NCAA automatic time of 7:09.14. Arizona (7:15.51), Stanford (7:17.73) and Arizona State (7:18.66) rounded out the top five with NCAA consideration standards.

EAST MEADOW, NY 2/22/04 - The WVU men's swimming and diving team placed seventh with 239.5 points and the women's team placed 11th with 85 points at the BIG EAST Championships, late Saturday evening, at the Nassau County Aquatic Center.
     Highlights for the Mountaineers on Saturday included another strong performance by junior Pedro Pinto, who placed fifth in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:51.07. Pinto earned all-BIG EAST honors on Friday after a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly event.
     Junior Kevin Van Buskirk placed eighth in the 1650 freestyle (15:51.28) while Kleyton Franca stopped the clocks at 45.62 to place seventh in the 100 freestyle.
     The 400 freestyle relay team of Franca, Travis Watson, Chris Hagedorn and Matt Drozd notched a fourth place finish with a time of 3:02.03.
     For the WVU women, Megan Carlson swam a 2:23.20 in the 200 breaststroke while the 400 freestyle relay squad of Lee Ann Johnston, Manuela Trabert, Carlson and Livia Cascao stopped the clocks at 3:32.55 to place eighth.

Coach Steven Phillips

Coach Matt Baranay

EAST MEADOW, NY 2/22/04 - The WVU men's swimming and diving team placed seventh with 239.5 points and the women's team placed 11th with 85 points at the BIG EAST Championships, late Saturday evening, at the Nassau County Aquatic Center.
Highlights for the Mountaineers on Saturday included another strong performance by junior Pedro Pinto, who placed fifth in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:51.07. Pinto earned all-BIG EAST honors on Friday after a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly event. Junior Kevin Van Buskirk placed eighth in the 1650 freestyle (15:51.28) while Kleyton Franca stopped the clocks at 45.62 to place seventh in the 100 freestyle. The 400 freestyle relay team of Franca, Travis Watson, Chris Hagedorn and Matt Drozd notched a fourth place finish with a time of 3:02.03.
For the WVU women, Megan Carlson swam a 2:23.20 in the 200 breaststroke while the 400 freestyle relay squad of Lee Ann Johnston, Manuela Trabert, Carlson and Livia Cascao stopped the clocks at 3:32.55 to place eighth.

The James Madison University men’s team finished in third place, while the women’s team placed eighth at the Colonial Athletic Association Championship meet held on the campus of George Mason University February 18-21. UNC Wilmington won the CAA Championship for the men, while the Patriots of George Mason claimed the women’s crown.
In the last meet of his career, senior Geoff Meyer (Fort Washington, Pa./Germantown) posted his second victory of the meet in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in a time of 45.26 seconds. Meyer was also a member of the 400-yard relay squad that won the race in a time of three minutes and 1.44 seconds. Fellow teammates Danny Gray (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle), Mike Nicholas (Herndon, Va./Paul VI) and Jeff Hicks (Clifton, Va./Centreville) joined Meyer on the team. Seniors Hicks and Aaron Nester (Williamsburg, Va./Lafayette) were also impressive on the last night of their swimming career. Hicks touched second in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:48.37, while Nester finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in at a time of 2:03.91 Freshman Josh Fowler (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown) swam to a fourth place finish in the 200-yard backstroke for the Dukes, while Gray, a sophomore, finished third in the 100-yard freestyle Saturday night.

Coach Steven Schadt

Coach Rich Rodgers

The Whitworth College teams rolled to outstanding performances at the Northwest Conference Swimming Championships over the weekend. The Pirate men broke seven meet records and a pair of school records on the way to their second straight NWC championship. Whitworth's women broke two meet records and one school record while finishing as conference runners up.
Whitworth's men moved into first place after winning the opening 200-yard Freestyle Relay and never trailed, outscoring runner-up Linfield 689-577.5. The Pirates won 16 of the 18 events, led by Co-Outstanding Swimmers of the Meet Kevin Wang (Sr., Redmond, Wash.) and Rhys Birky (So., Sweet Home, Ore.). Each won three individual events. Wang broke three meet records while winning the 200 Individual Medley (1:51.52), the 400 I.M. (3:58.94) and the 200 Backstroke (1:51.45). Wang's 200 I.M. time was also a new school record. Birky won the 50 Freestyle (21.43), the 100 Freestyle (46.85) and the 200 Freestyle (1:43.74). Two other Pirates won two events each. Cory Bergman (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) won the 100 Breaststroke (57.69) and 200 Breaststroke (2:03.56), both in meet record time. Bergman's 200 Breaststroke time was also a school record. He also finished second to Wang in the 200 I.M. (1:53.06) in the 200 I.M. Loren Kilgore (So., Gresham, Ore.) won the 500 Free (4:33.77) in meet record time and also won the 1,650 Free (15:52.88), which was the second fastest time ever at the meet. Kilgore was second to Wang in the 400 I.M. (4:02.03). Brandon Johnson (So., Bozeman, Mont.) was Whitworth's other event winner, taking the 200 Butterfly in 1:55.60. The Pirates swept all five relays, winning the 800 Freestyle Relay in 6:53.50, breaking the meet record in the event. Whitworth's winning time in the 400 Medley Relay (3:29.65) was a provisional NCAA qualifying time.

Coach Brooks Teal

North Carolina State's Jessi Perruquet set a new pool and ACC Championship record with her NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:46.36 in the 200-yard freestyle. Teammates Kelly Weeks and Virginia Hanson completed the Tar Heels' one-two-three sweep of the event, respectively.

TAMPA, FL 11/20/03 - In her freshman season at Tampa Prep, Chelsea Nauta was unbeatable in any of her events on her way to the state meet. She is a sprinter, and her favorite events are the short freestyle races. But she can swim any discipline and is usually the fastest with all four strokes. Before the districts her focus was on the race ahead, but after winning district titles in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, she revealed her thoughts of the state meet. In Class A, Florida swimmers must compete against some of the top in the world. Several state private schools recruit and board the top swimmers in the world, and Nauta knew that.
Rarely do teams or individuals from public schools win state titles.
"The girls who beat me last year when I was in the eighth grade all graduated, and I have good times against others in my events," she said before the state meet. "However, I have noticed on the Internet a new girl from Europe, maybe she came in at the end of the summer. I can't remember her name. She has some very fast times. But I can say only that I will do my very best at state."
As the finalist lined up on the blocks at the state meet for the 100 freestyle, the Jacksonville girls from Europe and other countries were focused on their race, but so was Nauta. When the final touch was made, Nauta was the state champion in 51.57 seconds. Not only was she the only Class A state champ from Hillsborough County, she added a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle event in 1:50.77. Her effort in the state meet, and the entire season, earned her Times Female Swimmer of the Year honors. "I am happy for my school and thankful to my private coach, Rich Rogers, who works hard helping me all year long," she said. "State meets are a real challenge, especially in Class A. It is a real honor to be selected Swimmer of the Year for this county. There are so many great swimmers around here. High school swimming was fun again this year, but now the real work starts for some big national meets with my club." Nauta's sister Brittany, a sophomore at Palm Harbor University, also won a state title.

Swimmer Brooke Boncher Advances to NCAA's

Sophomore standout is program's first-ever competitor.

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, VA 2/25/04 - For the first time in program history, a Richmond swimmer will compete at the NCAA Championships as sophomore Brooke Boncher (West Newbury, Mass.) advanced after recording an automatic qualifying time in the 50 freestyle at last weekend's Atlantic 10 Championships. In addition, she will be competing in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly. "Brooke has been absolutely single-minded in her training this year - her focus has been to qualify for the NCAA Championships," head coach Matt Kredich commented. "It's a great thing for Brooke and for our team to see that kind of dedication rewarded. Brooke has already shifted gears and is very intent on scoring (placing among the Top 16 in her event) at the NCAA's, and I think that she's got a great chance of accomplishing that goal. With a time of 22.88 in the opening leg of 200 medley relay, Boncher met the NCAA "A" Standard and automatically advanced to the 230-swimmer field.

Throughout the season, Boncher also recorded NCAA "B" times in the 100 freestyle and both 100 and 200 butterfly. With her guaranteed entry in one event, she is automatically allowed to compete in two of her "B" time events. After earning three first place finishes and establishing three new Atlantic 10 records at the conference championships, Boncher was honored as the 2004 Performer of the Year. She currently holds program records for the 50 freestyle (22.88), 100 freestyle (49.93), 100 butterfly (54.05) and 200 butterfly (2:02.80). Last season, she was one of three swimmers to represent Richmond at the Phillips 66 U.S. Nationals and qualified for the 2004 Olympic Selection Meet. The NCAA Championships will be held March 18-20 at College Station, Texas and will feature 230 of the nation's top collegiate swimmers.