Around Campus

Men’s and Women’s Swimming Preview

After recording top-ten finishes at the 2007 NCAA Championships, the Texas men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both look to accomplish even more as the season approaches. The men’s swimming team is led by head coach Eddie Reese, who will be spending his 30th year at The University of Texas. An eight-time NCAA Coach of the Year, Reese has guided the Longhorns to nine NCAA team titles during his time at the Forty Acres. In addition to serving as the head coach for Texas, Reese also was named the head coach for Team USA at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. This will be Reese’s third stint as the U.S. Men’s Olympic team head coach, as Reese has coached 22 Olympians who have won 21 gold medals at Texas.

Leading the men will be senior Matt McGinnis, who already has a plethora of accomplishments to his name. At the 2007 NCAA Championships, McGinnis placed fifth in the 500-yard freestyle, ninth in the 400-yard individual medley, 13th in the 1650-yard freestyle, and helped the Longhorn 800-yard free relay team to a fourth-place showing. Over the summer, McGinnis traveled to Bangkok, Thailand for the World University Games as a member of Team USA. There, he earned gold medals in the 400- and 800-meter freestyle relays.

Joining McGinnis on the 800-meter free relay team in Bangkok was junior Michael Klueh (Evansville, Ind.), who also individually medaled at the World University Games, placing second in the 400-meter free. The school record holder in the 400 individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle, Klueh is hoping to improve on another solid performance at the 2007 NCAA Championships. There, he placed fifth in the 500-yard free, ninth in the 400 IM and 13th in the 1650-yard free, and was also a part of the 800 free relay team that finished in fourth place.

Another swimmer who spent his summer representing Team USA was sophomore Ricky Berens who participated in the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil. Berens returned home from the games with plenty of hardware as he contributed to Team USA’s silver winning efforts in the 800-meter free relay and 400-meter free relay, and he won a gold medal as part of the 400-meter medley relay team where he swam the butterfly leg. Individually, Berens logged a fifth place finish in the 100-meter butterfly. During his first year of college competition, Berens earned three All-American selections and two honorable All-American recognitions. At the 2007 NCAA National Championship meet, Berens finished tenth in the 100-yard butterfly and 13th in the 200 IM events. He was also a part of three relays—the 400 medley relay, the 800 free relay, and the 400 free relay, that finished second, fourth, and fifth, respectively, at the same meet.

Sophomore Dave Walters made headlines when he beat past Olympic medalists and world record holders to win the 100-meter free at the 2007 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in the summer. Furthermore, Walters was a part of the Longhorn Aquatics 400-meter freestyle relay with Berens that finished second at the meet. Walters’ specialties are the middle distance events where he finished eighth in the 200-yard free, 15th in the 500-yard free, and joined McGinnis, Klueh, and Berens to form the 800-yard free relay team that finished fourth place at the 2007 NCAA National Championships.

Another name to look out for is sophomore diver Mike Wong who finished 16th in platform diving at the national championships to earn an honorable mention All-American selection.

In her first season at the University of Texas, head coach Kim Brackin led the women’s swimming and diving team to a sixth-place showing at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Heading into her second year as head coach, Brackin will also serve as the head coach for the Zimbabwe delegation at the 2008 Summer Olympics. While serving as co-head coach at Auburn, Brackin coached current UT volunteer assistant coach Kirsty Coventry, a native of Zimbabwe, who was a gold medalist in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2004 Olympic Games.

The women will be led by a pair of divers, seniors Mary Yarrison (Springfield, Va.) and Jessica Livingston (Houston, Texas), who have experience at both the college and national levels.

The 2007 NCAA Champion in the platform event, Livingston is coming off a successful summer where she claimed the synchronized platform diving crown alongside former UT All-American Laura Wilkinson at the 2007 Kaiser Permanente USA Diving National Championships. Individually, Livingston placed fourth at platform after winning the event in 2006.

As a junior, Yarrison earned All-America honors in the three-meter event and honorable mention All-America recognition in the one-meter event at the 2007 NCAA Championships. During the summer, she also joined Livingston at the 2007 Kaiser Permanente USA Diving Championships. There, Yarrison placed third in the one-meter event. Yarrison also won the one-meter title at the USA Diving Spring National Championships last April.

In the swimming events, junior Alexi Spann will be one of the names to look out for, as Spann hopes to continue Texas’ recent success in the breaststroke events. At the 2007 NCAA championships, Spann finished sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke, and 14th in the 100-yard breaststroke.

This year, The University of Texas will host the 2008 Big 12 Conference Championships at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center on the UT Campus. The annual league championship takes place Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1. For Big 12 Championship tickets, go to www.TexasBoxOffice.com, and for up-to-date information on UT swimming and diving, go to www.TexasSports.com

TEXAS MEN’S & WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING UPCOMING SCHEDULES

(HOME MEETS IN BOLD - All home meets held at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the UT campus)