OSU swimmers resume competition
February 1, 1999
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Washington State at Oregon State, 7 p.m.
Osborn Aquatic Center
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6
Washington State at Oregon State, 11 a.m.
Osborn Aquatic Center
Oregon State (1-3 overall duals, 0-1 Pacific-10) brings and end to a two-month break from competition by hosting Washington State (4-6, 0-2) in a pair of Dad's Weekend dual meets. OSU's last meet was the first weekend in December, when the Beavers placed second in the 21-team Speedo Cup.
"The drawback is that we'll be rusty," Oregon State head coach Mariusz Podkoscielny said. "There's no substitute for racing ... we had a scrimmage last week to get used to racing again, and it went surprisingly well. We were very solid overall. There were areas we need improvement but it was a good, positive experience after two months without racing."
The Beavers will be without team captain Erica Stephens, who has been out of the water for seven weeks with a shoulder problem. The sophomore holds three places on the school's all-time top 10 lists, including the school record in the 400 individual medley.
"That will be a hard loss for us to deal with with next couple of weekends and at the Pacific-10 Championships," Podkoscielny said.
Having back-to-back meets this weekend will give OSU a chance to identify flaws on Friday night, then make corrections almost immediately in Saturday morning's meet.
"We're going to get up and race," Podkoscielny said. "It should be two good meets. We're looking forward to getting things done and using this experience to go on to Reno (next weekend) and the Pacific-10 Championships.
"We're looking forward to capitalizing on the hard work the kids have put in. This is the final stretch - the road to the Pac-10 meet starts now."
Last season, Washington State beat the Beavers by scores of 113-87 and 147-107 in dual meets at Pullman.
INJURY REPORT: Oregon State team captain Erica Stephens, a sophomore, is out for the season with a shoulder injury.
LATEST COMPETITION: Oregon State turned in one of its top performances in years by finishing second in the 21-team Speedo Cup on Dec. 3-5 in Long Beach, Calif.
"Our goal was on improving from last year," OSU head coach Mariusz Podkoscielny said, referring to the Beavers' eighth-place Speedo Cup finish during the 1997-98 sesaon. "They did it themselves. They did more than what we could have asked. It was an awesome, awesome weekend."
Freshman Kristin Martinec set a school record of 57.20 seconds to tie for first in the 100-yard butterfly and sophomore Arianna Higuera won the 200 individual medley. OSU's 400 medley relay team of Martinec, Higuera, Sheila Tehranchi and Erica Stephens also placed first.
Other top-10 individual finishes for the Beavers in the meet came from Higuera, fourth in the 50 free and seventh in the 100 fly; Martinec, fourth in the 200 fly; Sheila Tehranchi, eighth in the 200 breast and 10th in the 100 breast; Melissa Hsieh, eighth in the 100 fly; Erica Stephens, ninth in the 100 back and 200 back; Dana Stoddard, ninth in the 1,650 free; Kyla Bond, 10th in the 400 IM; and Amy Imwalle, 10th in the 500 freestyle.
HEAD COACH MARIUSZ PODKOSCIELNY: Mariusz Podkoscielny is in his third season as head coach at Oregon State. He has a dual meet record of 6-18 overall, 0-8 in the Pacific-10.
Podkoscielny, 30, is a nine-time All-American and two-time Olympian.
Prior to coming to OSU in the fall of 1996, Podkoscielny had served as an assistant men's and women's coach at Arizona, his alma mater, since 1993. Prior to becoming a full-time assistant, he had worked as a volunteer assistant for the Wildcats and as an assistant with Hillenbrand Aquatics in Tucson, Ariz.
A native of Gdansk, Poland, Podkoscielny was a member of the Arizona swim team from 1988-92 was one of the fastest distance swimmers in UA history. He was also on the Polish National Team from 1980-92 and competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics.
BEAVER SOPHOMORES: Oregon State is hoping for a repeat performance from its sophomore class. The swimmers in their second year at OSU are well on their way to being the Beavers' fastest class ever in the sport.
The nine returning sophomores (Erin Buckley, Kristal Castillo, Sarah Cohen, Arianna Higuera, Melissa Hsieh, Julie Lewis, Jennifer Saunders, Kristen Severance and Erica Stephens) on OSU's roster have already combined for one school record and 26 entries on the school's all-time top 10 lists in various events.
Stephens set the school record in the 400-yard individual medley against Washington on Nov. 22, 1997 in 4:34.27, then lowered it to 4:28.16 in the Pacific-10 Championships on Feb. 27, 1998.
BEAVER NEWCOMERS: Oregon State's first-year swimmers are making an immediate impact. The eight freshmen (Suzanne Broda, Danielle Lux, Kristin Martinec, Maureen Pendergast, Jill Personius, Bonnie Renwick, Dana Stoddard and Sheila Tehranchi) and two transfers (Kyla Bond and Amy Imwalle) have combined for one school record and 17 marks on the school's all-time top 10 lists of swimmers in each event.
Kristin Martinec set a school record in the 100-yard butterfly at the Speedo Cup with a time of 57.20 seconds on Dec. 4, 1998.
BEAVERS ON SCHOOL TOP-10 LISTS: Swimmers on this year's Oregon State team hold many places on the school's all-time leaders lists. Here are the OSU school records and where members of the 1998-99 Beavers rate on OSU's all-time top 10s through Dec. 5:
50 FREESTYLE 1. Amy van Loben Sels 23.11 1994 5. Arianna Higuera 24.15 1999 8. Erin Buckley 24.57 1998 10. (tie) Melissa Hsieh 24.79 1998 100 FREESTYLE 1. Amy van Loben Sels 50.64 1995 5. Arianna Higuera 52.36 1999 9. Melissa Hsieh 53.70 1998 200 FREESTYLE 1. Traci Lamoure 1:50.91 1998 3. Melissa Hsieh 1:54.28 1998 5. Erin Buckley 1:55.19 1998 6. Arianna Higuera 1:55.49 1999 9. Kristin Martinec 1:57.01 1999 500 FREESTYLE 1. Tammy Scott 5:00.00 1989 7. Amy Imwalle 5:10.58 1999 9. Melissa Hsieh 5:11.65 1999 10. Dana Stoddard 5:12.59 1999 1,000 FREESTYLE 1. Kelly Kaplan 10:23.50 1990 3. Amy Imwalle 10:43.96 1999 4. Dana Stoddard 10:44.56 1999 10. Jennifer Saunders 11:02.48 1999 1,650 FREESTYLE 1. Holly Andrus 17:10.16 1981 4. Dana Stoddard 17:42.33 1999 5. Amy Imwalle 17:55.07 1999 100 BACKSTROKE 1. Tori Eisenbeis 57.23 1995 3. Erica Stephens 57.74 1998 200 BACKSTROKE 1. Christy Ryerson 2:03.41 1994 3. Erica Stephens 2:04.60 1998 7. Kyla Bond 2:12.47 1999 100 BUTTERFLY 1. Kristin Martinec 57.20 1999 2. Melissa Hsieh 58.03 1998 7. Arianna Higuera 59.31 1999 200 BUTTERFLY 1. Julie Skowhede 2:07.65 1982 2. Melissa Hsieh 2:07.67 1998 4. Kristin Martinec 2:09.34 1999 10. Kristal Castillo 2:12.51 1998 100 BREASTSTROKE 1. Becky Curtis 1:06.83 1991 6. Sheila Tehranchi 1:07.89 1999 7. Maureen Pendergast 1:08.40 1999 9. Kristen Severance 1:08.87 1998 200 BREASTSTROKE 1. Tammy Scott 2:20.77 1991 5. Sheila Tehranchi 2:26.27 1999 6. Sarah Cohen 2:27.07 1999 7. Kristen Severance 2:27.40 1998 9. Gina Giesbrecht 2:28.57 1997 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 1. Traci Lamoure 2:07.72 1998 2. Arianna Higuera 2:08.10 1999 3. Erica Stephens 2:08.32 1998 7. Kristen Severance 2:12.48 1998 8. Maureen Pendergast 2:13.14 1999 9. Sarah Cohen 2:13.15 1999 400 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 1. Erica Stephens 4:28.16 1998 3. Kyla Bond 4:36.79 1999 5. Sarah Cohen 4:39.76 1999 6. Sheila Tehranchi 4:41.33 1999 7. Kristen Severance 4:41.52 1998
