H2O Frogs Head to Short Course Nationals
12/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Dec. 2, 2008
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Thirteen TCU men's and women's swimmers will compete at the 2008 ConocoPhillips Short Course National Championships and the USA Swimming Long Course Time Trials in Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 4-7, at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center in Atlanta, Ga.
On the men's side, junior sprinter Josh Bagby and sophomore backstroker Jeff Gettel each earned seven individual event wins during the fall and will be making their second-straight appearance in Atlanta, alongside sophomore Edgar Peyro. Bagby will be competing in eight events, including the 50-, 100- and 200-free, while Gettel is representing TCU in the 200-back. Peyro has a pair of victories this season, pacing the field in the 200-breast and 200-IM against BYU.
Junior Ben Biefnes, sophomore Ben Iannacone and freshman Jack Doran will make their first appearance at Short Course Nationals. Doran, a newcomer from Spring, Texas, won the 50-free at UT Permian Basin, while Iannacone contributed to TCU's 400-free relay win over Wyoming.
Freshman Edgar Crespo will also compete this weekend, but he will be representing his native country of Panama, swimming for Panama Swimming Federation. This weekend will be Crespo's first meet since topping his heat and turning in a personal best time in the 100-breaststroke at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Six TCU women will be making their Short Course Nationals debut this weekend. Newcomer Ashley Bolin currently leads the Frogs with eight event wins and will be representing TCU in the 400-IM, while TCU's wins leader from a year ago, junior Stephanie Futscher, will compete in the 200-fly. Senior Katie Rosen will go in the 200-breast, an event in which she has garnered two of her three Mountain West Conference wins this season. Sophomore Sammie Smith will appear in the 100-back event, while Lindsey Stevens and freshman Kaitlyn Vann will be invested in relay work for TCU.
Last season, the TCU men's swimming team enjoyed a very successful weekend, highlighted by seniors Jonathon Berrettini and Scott McCracken, who set three school records and recorded a NCAA automatic qualifying time, as well as two NCAA 'B' times. McCracken became the first Frog to ever break the 19-second barrier in the 50-free with a time of 19.99 to finish seventh.
Players Mentioned
