Dec. 2, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
Dec. 4-6 - at Husky Invitational (W), All Day
Dec. 4-6 - at Texas Invitational (M), All Day

LAST COMPETITION
Nov. 7-8 - at Anteater Shootout, M: 4-2; W: 4-5
Nov. 9 - at UC San Diego, M: 149-92; W: 135-107

RECAP
The UC Davis swimming and diving teams were last in action nearly one month ago at the Anteater Shootout and a dual at UC San Diego... Both teams earned victories over the Tritons and won four duals during the shootout.... The Aggies combined to win 14 of the 26 events in the sweep over UC San Diego.

Sophomore Linda Hermann highlighted Sunday's dual with UC San Diego by combing for three wins... She earned wins in the 200 free (1:53.94) and the 500 free (5:05.92) while also swimming the second leg on the winning 200 free relay team (1:37.41).

Junior Heidi Kucera was a multiple event winner for the third time during the weekend with top finishes in the 400 individual medley (4:27.02) and 200 breaststroke (2:22.41).

During the shootout, the women finished 2-2 on the first day of competition to move into the winner's pool... They defeated Cal State Northridge and San Diego... The men went 1-2 to move in the non-winner's pool on the second day... Senior Scott Weltz won the 400 IM and 200 free to lead the men's team... On the second day, the men dominated their pool with convincing victories over Big West opponents UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly... The women finished 2-3 in the winner's pool with wins over Pepperdine and Hawaii.... Weltz and junior Russ Underwood each won two events.

UPCOMING INVITATIONALS
The UC Davis men's and women's swimming teams are in action for the final time in 2008 at separate invitationals... The men travel to Austin, Texas for the Texas Invite at the Lee and Jamail Texas Swimming Center... The women make the trek up to Federal Way, Wash. for the Husky Invite at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center... Both events will run from Dec. 4-6 and feature some of the best competition in the country.

Along with UC Davis, the Texas Invite will include host and the No. 1-ranked Longhorns, No. 2 and defending national champion Arizona along with Arizona State and Wisconsin... Prelims begin at 8 a.m. PT each day with finals beginning at 4 p.m. PT... Texas boasts Olympic gold medalists in Ricky Berens and Dave Walters... Walters is also the defending NCAA champion in the 200 free.... Arizona boasts six returning All-Americans and three swimmers who competed in the Bejing Olympics... Arizona State has two returning honorable mention All-Americans.... This marks the first season UC Davis will compete at the Texas Invite as they will forgo their usual trip to the Nike/Speedo Cup.

The Aggie women travel to the Husky Invite for the second consecutive year... UC Davis will not compete in final swims on Saturday and will instead return home in preparation for final exams... In addition to the Aggies and host Huskies, the invite will include USC, Oregon State, UC Santa Barbara, Boise State, Seattle, Hawaii and Division III members Whitworth and Puget Sound... Washington and USC are both ranked in the top 25 nationally... Last season UC Davis finished eighth in the 12-team field... Sophomore Linda Hermann tied the school record in the 500 free during the first day of competition.

Men's Head Coach Pete Motekaitis: On Month of Training: "We've worked hard for a bit and now we're coming down to see how fast those 17 swimmers who are going to Texas can be in December. We're very excited about that. We've used the time to sharpen and get faster. We've also used some time to rest. We're hoping for a significant amount of lifetime bests and school records this weekend. We're hoping to make a real positive statement to say that a UC Davis team has never been this fast in December. We started off training for this event on September 7. It's been a while but we wanted to have an accelerated program this year."

On Texas Invite: "I'm going to tell my guys that no UC Davis team has been in a meet this fast. It's way faster than any conference meet that we've ever been at. There's not a lot of teams, but when you have the No. 1-ranked team in Texas, the defending national champion in Arizona and a boatload of Olympians, you just need to be ready. We'll see how we do. (Scott) Weltz is seeded really well, the distance swimmers are seeded really well, our relays are pretty close to some of the other teams. I would say this is a boost for our team. I'm really excited about it. It's going to be a real positive challenge. We're just going to try to get the fastest times we can and not worry about these other teams. I'm not worrying about a team finish. I just want to be able to say no other UC Davis team has been faster in the month of December and just go from there."

Women's Head Coach Barbara Jahn: On Month Of Training: "We've been building a base and really throwing a lot of yardage at them. We knew we'd be lucky if we could train at all during the Thanksgiving holiday. We tried to build up as much as we could and hope for the best when we swim on Thursday. We started getting ready for the invite this week by getting them starting off the blocks and turning on the bulkhead. We've been practicing wall to wall, but the meet will be turning on a bulkhead."

On Husky Invite: "Having this meet inside is an advantage because it's a controlled environment. It's a problem for our asthmatic swimmers, but I don't think that will affect us. I want everybody to put out season-best times. It's not realistic to be looking for national cuts, but if somebody can get close that would put them in a really good position. They'll have the confidence at conference to know that they can go faster. The competition is going to be fierce. We have UC Santa Barbara, Washington, Oregon State, Hawaii and USC. There will also be Boise State and a couple Division III teams. This will prepare our faster point scorers for really good competition."