Cougar Swimmers to Compete in Annual Speedo Cup Competition

The men's and women's swimming teams will travel to California Thursday to participate in the three-day Speedo Cup competition.

Last Weekend

The women were off, while the men suffered back-to-back losses against Washington in a span of less than 24 hours. The divers travelled to USC for the annual Trojan Diving Invitational, where the Cougars captured first-place wins in three of the six events (Aaron Russell, 1M; Scott Randall, platform; Rachelle Smith, 1M). Randall was named the conference male diver of the week and Smith the female diver of the week for their efforts, while Arunas Savickas received male swimmer of the week honors.

1998 Speedo Cup

The women won their first-ever Speedo Cup title last year, led by the first-place 200 medley and 200 free relay teams. Hanalee Hawkins led individual swimmers, scoring second-place finishes in the 100 back and 100 free. Mary Duffin also captured a second-place finish in the 400 IM, while the 400 free relay team took third. The men finished third overall, with Arunas Savickas leading the team with a win in the 500 free and second-place finishes in the 100 and 200 back.

Men Swimmers to Watch

Arunas Savickas, Junior: Swims back and free. Savickas won all of his individual races in two dual meets against Washington. To date, Savickas owns the conference's best times in the 200 free (1:39.05) and 500 free (4:28.01).

Gary Tan, Freshman: Swims back. Tan won the 100 and 200 back events against Washington last weekend. Tan currently holds the conference's best times in the 200 back (1:50.00) and 200 IM (1:53.89).

Women Swimmers to Watch

Hanalee Hawkins,Senior: Swims free. Hawkins performed well at last year's Speedo Cup, claiming two runner-up spots, and is currently the owner of the conference's fourth-best 50 free time (24.44).

Mary Duffin, Junior: Swims IM. Duffin was the Cougars' sole first-place finisher in their last dual meet against UNLV, taking the 200 IM event. Duffin holds the conference's third-best 200 IM time this season (2:09.71), just four-tenths of a second behind New Mexico's Quinn Michie's conference best time of 2.09.34.