FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Arizona men's and women's swimming and diving swept the first meet of the season in Flagstaff. The women were victorious against NAU, 222-77 and Hawai'i, 232-68. The men defeated Hawai'i, 192-105.
For the women, sophomore
Annie Ochitwa stood out winning in each of her four events, two individual and two relay. She placed first in the 50 free with 23.24, two-tenths of a second ahead of teammate
Morgan Ginnis. Ochitwa also won the 100 fly with 54.39.
The sophomore swam the third leg for the winning 200 medley relay team with
Katrina Konopka,
Mallory Korenwinder and Ginnis (1:41.46). Later, with Ginnis,
Ashley Sutherland and
Hannah Cox, Ochitwa also won the 400 free relay (3:24.24).
Freshman Cox had a strong performance in her first collegiate meet. She won two individual events and was runner-up in another. Cox outswam freshman
Kirsten Jacobsen by one-tenth of a second to win the 500 free (4:59.60) and placed first in the 200 free (1:50.77). The freshman also took second in the 1,000 free with 10:20.53.
For the men, sophomore
Parks Jones was victorious in each of his two events, both were close races. He also placed first in 400 free relay. Jones won the 200 free with 1:40.92, out-touching Hawai'i by five-hundredths of a second. The sophomore also took first in the 100 free (45.97), beating out teammate
Nicholas Magana by eight-hundredths of a second.
Jones later swam the first leg of the 400 free relay to claim a victory with
Chatham Dobbs,
J.P. Beach and Magana (3:03.09).
Sophomore Dobbs also started off the season strong with one individual win and two in relays. Dobbs swam the first leg of the 200 medley relay to win with teammates
Blair Bish,
Renny Richmond and Beach (1:24.21).
The sophomore later edged out Hawai'i in the 100 fly to win by one-tenth of a second (49.60). He also was runner-up in the 100 back with 49.35.
The Cats won 13 of the 16 events on the women's side and 11 of the 16 on the men's, sweeping both relays.
Arizona had multiple swimmers land in the top-three in 11 individual events for the women, three of which it swept the podium (100 breast, 50 free, 100 fly). The Cats had at least two swimmers in the top-three in 9 individual events for the men. In six of those, they went 1-2-3-4 (100 breast, 200 fly, 50 free, 100 free, 200 breast, 500 free).
Up Next: Arizona holds its annual Red-Blue intrasquad meet on Sat. Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. MST. The Cats then travel to Salt Lake City to face Utah in a dual meet on Sat. Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. MST.
Follow Arizona Swimming and Diving: For further coverage of Arizona swimming and diving, visit ArizonaWildcats.com and follow the team's Twitter (@ArizonaSwimming) and Instagram (@ArizonaSwimDive) accounts.
