MWC Swimmer of the Week Neringa Statkeviciute and the Utah women’s swim team search for win No. 1 in their fourth meet Saturday, as Utah hosts UNLV.
“Each women’s team has their ‘go-to’ swimmers, and I expect the meet to be extremely competitive,” said U coach Mike Litzinger.
If the meet comes down to Statkeviciute, the Utes should be fine.
Statkeviciute, a sophomore, torpedoed to two first-place finishes and top-5 all-time Ute performances in a 124-117 loss to BYU last weekend. In the 100-free, her time of 51.26 seconds earned her second place on the all-time list, behind only the record of 49.66 set by departed All American Heidi Hausknecht last year.
In the 50-free, Statkeviciute’s time of 23.85 won her another first-place finish and fourth place in the Utah record books.
For the Herculean effort, the Lithuanian was named the conference’s Swimmer of the Week.
The men’s team will also be in action at the meet, which starts at 2 p.m. in the Ute Natatorium.
“The men will see a team much like BYU?strong in the sprints and relays,” Litzinger said. “We will have to counter with our stroke events.”
Freshman Evan Castro had success in the 200-breast last week. Castro finished first in the event with a time of 2:07.65.
Other stroke swimmers needed to contribute include David Fleisch, John Mikael Carlile, Daniel Godfrey, Stephen Linge and Trent Shino.
Freshman Cody Rempfer, who placed first in the 200-fly against BYU and who already has an MWC Swimmer of the Week award to his credit, will also be looked on to perform.
The men, like the women, are looking for their first victory of the season.