Dec. 1, 1997
Men's and Women's Swimming
No. 8 Women (7-0) and No. 13 Men (0-1) Swimmers Travel to Speedo Cup in Long Beach
THIS WEEK: Dec. 4-6 at Speedo Cup, Belmont Plaza Pool, Long Beach, CA All Day
LAST WEEK: The 7-0 and No. 8 ranked California women's swim team was outstanding in its last competition, defeating No. 12 ranked Texas, 164-136, Nov. 14; and No. 24 ranked Texas A&M, 177-121, Nov. 15. In the Bears first dual meet victory over Texas in school history, Cal won nine of the meet's 16 events, including three victories by junior All-American Marylyn Chiang (The Pas, Manitoba, Canada). Chiang swam NCAA automatic times in the 100 back (54.07) and 100 fly (54.25), and had an NCAA consideration time in the 200 back (2:01.16). Other winners included sophomore Elli Overton (Sydney, Australia) capturing the 400 IM (4:22.38, NCAA consideration) and 500 free (5:00.21). Freshman Hanna Jaltner (Vaxjo, Sweden) won the 100 (1:03.53, NCAA consideration) and 200 breast (2:18.21, NCAA consideration). Sophomore Waen Minpraphal (Bankok, Thailand) also won the 200 fly (2:02.75, NCAA consideration), and Cal placed first in the 400 medley relay (3:47.12, NCAA consideration, Chiang, Overton, Minpraphal, Adrienne Mattos). Against Texas A&M, the Bears won 12 of 16 events. Chiang was again the star, winning the 50 free (23.61), the 100 free (50.68, NCAA consideration) and the 100 fly (54.49). Chiang was also a member of Cal's winning 200 medley relay (1:44.77, Chiang, Jaltner, Minpraphal, Katie Lowes). Overton won three events (100 back, 200 back, 200 IM) against Texas A&M and had an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 2:01.19 in the 200 IM. Jaltner again won both the 100 and 200 breast, and Minpraphal captured the 200 fly (2:01.49, NCAA consideration) and 500 free (4:55.96). The Bears also won the 400 free relay (3:29.06, Nicole Omphroy, Anya Kolbisen, Mattos, Lowes)
On the men's side, No. 13 Cal has only had one dual meet, a close 155-143 loss to No. 3 ranked Texas Nov. 1 at the Koret Center on the University of San Francisco campus (all of the Bears men's and women's home swim meets will be held at the Koret Center due to the construction of the Haas Pavilion on the Cal campus). The Bears gave an outstanding effort against Texas, despite being without senior captain Bart Sikora (broken big toe on his left foot) and junior standout Gordon Kozulj (mononucleosis). The Bears were led by sophomores Ratapong Sirisanont (Bangkok, Thailand) and Bart Kizierowski (Warsaw, Poland). Sirisanont, a two-time Olympian for Thailand, notched three victories for Cal, winning the 100 breast (57.08), the 200 breast (2:01.71, NCAA consideration) and the 200 IM (1:51.43). Kizierowski placed first in the 50 (20.81) and 100 free (45.29).
HEAD COACH TERI MCKEEVER: Teri McKeever is in her sixth season as Cal's head women's swim coach. McKeever has a 48-25 (.658) dual meet record with the Golden Bears and a 102-47 (.685) overall record (five years as women's coach at Fresno State). She has led Cal to a 15th place NCAA finish in 1993, a 21st place finish in 1994, a 28th place finish in 1995, a 17th place finish in 1996 and a ninth place finish in 1997. HEAD COACH NORT THORNTON: Nort Thornton is in his 24th season as Cal's head men's swim coach. Thornton has a 169-70 (.707) dual meet record with the Golden Bears. He has led Cal to 18 Top-10 NCAA finishes, two national titles (1979-80) and an impressive collection of 38 Olympians and 104 All-Americans. Thornton was named an assistant coach to the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in May of 1995.
BEAR NOTES: The Cal women have already set two dual meet school records this season. Freshman Hanna Jaltner set the dual meet record in the 100 breast (1:03.22) Oct. 25 at Nevada, and the Bears 400 medley relay (Overton, Jaltner, Minpraphal, Chiang) set a dual meet record (3:47.63) against Washington, Washington State and Oregon State.
NOTING THE SPEEDO CUP: The Speedo Cup will feature 25 women's teams and 17 men's teams, with the top teams including Cal and No. 18 Nevada on the women's side, and No. 1 ranked Stanford and Cal on the men's side. Each day, preliminaries will begin at 9 a.m. for the women and 12 p.m. for the men. Finals will be at 6 p.m. The results will be placed on Info-Connection every evening after the finals. The number is 770-399-3066. The Big West Code is 292. Thursday's results request number is 1660. Friday's request number is 1661 and Saturday's request number is 1662.
