New face hopes for old results
Swimming and diving team doesn't look to sink after losing national champion
Leila Kalegi
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Sports
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Ignacio and teammate Joey Brown both graduated, but diving coach Mike Lyden is confident in the current divers.
"We don't have Taryn, and we don't have Joey, so it's a big loss," Lyden said. "We've got Jessie (Snowden) coming in. You can't replace those girls, but she's talented enough that she can compete with those girls."
Snowden, a freshman and Issaquah, Wash., native, favors the platform event, just as Ignacio did.
"I'm seeing Jessie doing some good stuff this year," Lyden said. "And I'm seeing her through the four years being in the hunt to be in the NCAAs in her freshmen year and all her years."
"Jessie's great. She's got a lot of talent," said senior diver Kari Retrum. "It's awesome to have someone to push you at practice everyday."
Retrum, a fifth-year senior, is hoping this year is her year, and Lyden is positive about her abilities.
"She had a heck of a year last year," he said. "And if she can have a year like last year this year, she'll be in the nationals and be successful."
Last season at her first national-championship appearance which was held in Minneapolis, she finished 11th in the platform event and 12th in the 1-meter. Now, almost a year later, the she wants more.
"I have higher goals set than I did last year," Retrum said. "I'm going to do my best, and hopefully that will take me to NCAAs again."
Returning for the men's side are divers junior Justin Smith and incoming freshman Stephen Andrews.
Smith finished the season eighth on the 3-meter, tenth on the 1-meter and 14th on the platform event at the SEC Championship.
Lyden said he thinks all of the divers have the skills and capability to make it to nationals.
"My expectations are we get to nationals," he said. "I expect them to make it to the finals. I don't see them being there and being intimated by anyone else."
The divers aren't the only one who are confident about this season. The swimmers think they will have the same amount of success as - and possibly more than - they did last year.
"Our goal is to be in the top four in the SEC, and that's tough because the top four teams in the country are in the SEC," said swimming coach Gary Conelly. "Regarding NCAAs, we'd really like to get in the top 10, and I think we can do that."
Last season, UK claimed its first SEC relay title in school history, taking the gold in the 200-meter freestyle relay. Returning swimmers from the relay include seniors Heather Bradford, Jenny Bradford and Lauren Willis.
Jenny Bradford said she doesn't see why the relay team wouldn't repeat or do better than last season. Bradford and the women's side have set high expectations for themselves, she said.
"We definitely want to be better in NCAAs," she said. "The girl team wants to be top eight. The coaches keep saying top 10, but we want to be top eight."
In addition to the relay title, Bradford took 7th in the 50-meter freestyle.
The talent extends to the men's side as well. Senior Will Vietti placed 25th in the 200-meter breaststroke and 16th in the 100-meter breaststroke last season while competing in his first NCAA Championship.
Junior Mickey Malul took 6th in the 50-meter breaststroke at the FINA World Championship in Australia this past March, and junior Warren Grobbelaar placed first in the 100-meter butterfly at the South African National Championships in April.
The swimming and diving season starts today in Knoxville, Tenn., against Tennessee and South Carolina.
Conelly said he isn't worried about the competition.
"We can push Tennessee if everyone's sharp - we can win that," he said. "I think we should take South Carolina down."
The only concern on the minds of the coaches is the number of divers on the team. Three divers can score, and with the men's and women's teams each having only two, UK is losing the possibility of two points automatically.
Other than that, the coaches and players say they aren't concerned about today's meet or their upcoming season.
"I don't have too many concerns," Conelly said. "As the season goes on, we'll get better and better."
e-mail lkalegi@kykernel.com
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