Now that the first meet of the season is behind it, the friendly confines of the U Natatorium must wish the swim team bon voyage until the end of January.
That may seem like a misprint, but Jan. 26 is the next time the Utes will participate in a meet in their home pool. This weekend in San Diego against the UCSD Tritons begins the long string of meets the Utes will participate away from home.
Both the male and female members of the U team will look to shave seconds off their respective events as the Utes are still in the training portion of their season. To help facilitate this transition, the UCSD swim team provides a stout yet beatable opponent for the Swimmin’ Utes.
The UCSD Tritons are one of the best programs in Division-II athletics. Both the men and the women’s portions of the team have finished amongst the top five in D-II each of the past three years.
The biggest tests for the female Ute swimmers will be in the freestyle distance races. Andrea Lippin, who holds the UCSD school record in both the 1,000 and 500-meter freestyle races, will challenge Karly Roberts and Rachael Curci in the long distance swims.
For the UCSD men, the team effort will be led by Joel Tourtellotte, who is the team’s best freestyle competitor.
Tony Pizza