The Arizona swimming and diving teams completed the 2006-07 season posting yet another impressive finish to a successful year. Both the men and women stayed in the Top 10 of the CSCAA poll for the entire dual-meet season and went on to finish in the nation’s top-three for the third consecutive year by earning second and third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships.

The Wildcats finished the season breaking a total of 14 school, four NCAA and two American records, while posting 81 All-American honors. Arizona also posted a combination of six individual national champions and three relay titles.

The women defended their Pac-10 title for a second straight year, climbing seven spots from the first day of competition to win the meet with 1,481.5 points.

On the men’s side, the Wildcats completed competition at the Pac-10 Championships finishing in third place with 625 points, which is the most points Arizona has accumulated at the meet in the program’s history. The Cats tallied two conference champions and 10 NCAA automatic qualifying times throughout the four day meet.

The Cats again posted one of the top swimming and diving seasons in U of A history, proving to be one of the most consistently successful athletic teams at the U of A, as well as one of the most competitive programs in the nation.

Women’s Review:

The women’s team finished the season ranked No. 4 with an 8-2 (4-2 Pac-10) record, with the only two losses to No. 1 Stanford and third-ranked California.

At the NCAA Championships, the Wildcats featured 19 swimmers, including six freshmen and eight sophomores, which marked the most athletes Arizona has ever qualified to complete at the meet.

The women finished second for the third time in school history with 477 points, the most points ever to be accumulated by the women’s squad at the national championships.

Arizona also tallied two individual titles by senior Whitney Myers and junior Lacey Nymeyer, while capturing two relay titles that both set NCAA and American records.

Of the 19 athletes who competed at the national championships, there were 48 All American honors and seven broken school records.

NCAAs Day One: The first night of the 2007 Women’s Swimming and Diving NCAA Championships was one of breaking records for Arizona as the team took a 13 point lead over Auburn with 168 points.

The 200 free relay team of sophomore Lara Jackson, Nymeyer, sophomore Anna Turner and sophomore Lindsey

Kelly defended their national title for the second straight year, while setting a new American and NCAA record with time of 1:27.23. The victory marked the fifth all-time 200 free relay title for Arizona and the first American record in school history.

Myers also defended her 200 IM crown, winning the event for the second year in a row with a time of 1:54.89

In the 50 free, Jackson broke her own school record for the second time in the same day, finishing second overall with a time of 21.73. Jackson’s time was only two hundredths of a second behind Georgia senior Kara Lynn Joyce, who has won the event for the past three years.

For the final event of the evening, the 400 medley relay team of sophomore Hailey DeGolia, freshman Annie Chandler, Myers and Nymeyer crushed the school record with a time of 3:30.89, finishing second overall.

NCAAs Day Two: After the second day of competition at the NCAA Championships, Arizona remained in first place with 375 points, posting a 32 point edge over second place Auburn. The Wildcats also tallied two more national titles during the competition.

The 200 medley relay team of DeGolia, Chandler, Jackson and Kelly captured the first title of the night, breaking a second American record at the meet for the Wildcats with a time of 1:36.09.

Nymeyer captured a fourth title for her team in the 200 free, taking her first individual NCAA crown of her collegiate carrier, while shattering the school record with a time of 1:43.49.

DeGolia finished second in the100 back with a personal best time of 52.60, and Chandler finished second in the 100 breast also posting a personal best time of 1:00.03.

NCAAs Day Three: After leading the first two days of the meet, the women fell to second place, only 58 points from Auburn, which captured its fifth first-place finish in six years.

“This is probably the best NCAAs that the women have ever had,” head coach Frank Busch said. “We were in the lead going into this last day and these girls just had an incredible three days of competition. The records that were set are unprecedented, and I am just really proud of what they accomplished. We are so excited not only about this, but the future because we have such a young squad, but we are certainly going to miss the leadership of senior Whitney Myers.”

During the final evening of competition, Myers and Nymeyer nearly grasped two more individual titles to add to their achievements at the meet as Nymeyer finished second in the 100 free, breaking the school record she set during the morning prelims with a time of 47.34. Myers also finished second in the 200 fly with a school record-breaking time of 1:53.75.

Men’s Review

The men’s team experienced equally impressive success this year, as they spent most of the dual-meet season ranked fifth in the CSCAA poll. The Wildcats went into the conference and national championships with an overall record of 6-3 and a 2-2 mark in the Pac-10 Conference.

After three days of competition at the 2007 NCAA Championships, the men finished third with 371 points, only 26 points away from second place Stanford.

The men qualified 11 swimmers at this year’s championships, including three returning first team All-Americans, while featuring one senior, four juniors, one sophomore and five freshmen. The Cats accumulated 33 All-American honors, while breaking two NCAA and seven school records. The squad also tallied five NCAA titles, including four individual and one relay. Junior Albert Subirats captured two individual crowns, while senior Adam Ritter and junior Darian Townsend each posted an individual victory which is the most Arizona has ever had in the history of the program when Ryk Neethling posted three on his own in 1999.

NCAAs Day One: After the first day of competition at the Championships, the men’s swim team was in second place with 121 points, with one individual champion and two new school records.

Ritter captured the first individual title of his collegiate carrier in the 200 IM, smashing his own school record with a time of 1:41.72. Ritter is now recorded as the third-fastest NCAA performer of all time in the event behind World Record holders Ryan Lachte and Michael Phelps. His win marked the first 200 IM title in school history.

The 200 free relay team of Subirats, sophomore Nicolas Nilo, Ritter and Townsend, which broke another school record with a time of 1:16.26, while finishing third overall.

In the 50 free, Subirats was only two-hundredths of a second away from tying the school record with a time of 19:08, as he was part of a three-way tie for second place.

NCAAs Day Two: The Wildcats made a splash during the second day of competition as well, capturing four national titles in seven swimming events. The men broke two NCAA records as they remained in second place with 278 points.

After suffering a disqualification in the 200 medley relay, Arizona quickly bounced back to post the most successful night of competition at the meet in the history of the program.

Subirats started off the action, and became the second man in NCAA history to win two events in one night, capturing both the 100 fly and 100 back crowns.

Subirats not only smashed his own school record in the 100 fly, but the NCAA record as well, winning with a time of 44.57.

Two races later, Subirats broke another one of his school records in the 100 back with a time of 44.83, posting the first national title in the event in school history.

Townsend led the 200 free as one of four Wildcats qualified for the championship heat. Townsend won with a personal and season best time of 1:33.29. Townsend’s title marked the fourth victory in the event in five years for Arizona, as Simon Burnett was a three-time champion during his tenure at Arizona.

The Cats finished all four competitors in the top five of the event, as Ritter finished third (1:33.76), freshman Jean Basson finished fourth (1:33.85) and Nilo finished fifth (1:33.90), each posting a personal best time.

Topping off the night’s excitement was the 800 free relay team of Nilo, Basson, Townsend and Ritter, which defended its national title, while breaking a second NCAA record with a time of 6:14.14.

NCAAs Day Three: During the final day of competition, Arizona fell to third place, only 26 points behind Pac-10 rival Stanford.

Many notable performances were achieved on the final day, including Basson’s fifth-place finish in the 1650, in which he posted personal best time of 14:52.17.

In the championship finals of the 100 free, Nilo finished fourth with a time of 42.37, while Ritter finished fifth (42.43) and Townsend finished 13th (43.03).

For the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay team of Subirats, Nilo, Townsend and Ritter finished second with a school record-breaking time of 2:47.86. Subirats also broke the school record in the 100 free with his leadoff time of 42.05.