Swim & dive team takes home meet

By: Lukas Eggen

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 1:38 AM

In one of only two home meets this season, Nevada’s swimming & diving team defeated Fresno State 184.5-110.5 in a dual meet. Photo by Marcus Sacchetti/The Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada’s swimming & diving team wasn’t sure exactly how many people would show up to Friday’s meet at Lombardi Recreation Center.

“Being a holiday, we weren’t sure how full it was going to be,” Wolf Pack head coach Mike Richmond said.

However, the stands were packed and Richmond said the support played a crucial role in Nevada’s 184.5-110.5 victory over Fresno State.

“On a holiday, for the people to be coming out, that really, really meant a lot for us,” he said. “If there was one thing that really spurred our athletes on it’s when they looked up there on a holiday and saw those stands packed.”

Junior Marichi Gandionco said the crowd helped everyone get ready for the meet.

“We could hear the crowd and we got really pumped up right away,” Gandionco said.

Nevada, which won 13 of the 16 events, had several standout performances at the dual meet. Gandionco was the swimmer to watch as she took first in 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard individual medley.

“I’m gaining a better understanding of where I’m at swimming-wise,” she said. “I’m getting to the level I thought I could never be at.”

The Wolf Pack also had a solid performance by sophomore Chelsey Larsen, who won the 100-yard freestyle and finished second in the 500-yard freestyle.

On the diving side, sophomore Aniesa Debaji won both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, despite battling the flu.

“I’m really happy with my performance,” Debaji, a sophomore, said. “The swim team did amazing and the diving team did really well too.”

Diving coach Jian Li You was impressed with Debaji’s determination.

“Aniesa was sick, so I was surprised that she could compete and do really well,” You said. “I told her ‘don’t compete’ but she wanted to and she did well.”

The meet, which was one of only two home meets this season and the team’s only home meet of the fall semester, also served as a measuring stick for the Wolf Pack. The team has only three meets left before the Western Athletic Conference Championships.

And although the Wolf Pack is a three-time defending WAC Champion and disposed of Fresno State, a WAC foe, with ease, players and coaches know winning the league championships again will not be an easy task.

“It’s way more competitive than it was before,” Gandionco said. “But it motivates us to work harder.”

Larsen, despite this only being her second year with the team, knows this season will be a battle.

“A lot of the other teams have stepped up,” Larsen said. “But we’re going to go in there and give it our all.”

Richmond said the biggest keys will be the young swimmers on the roster.

“We have some great leadership and a big influx of young kids,” he said. “(Friday) we saw those new kids step up. That was our biggest goal: to be hitting on all cylinders and I think we did that today.”

Nevada’s next meet will be Nov. 19-20 when the Wolf Pack competes at the Nike Cup in Long Beach, Calif., The team’s next meet against a WAC opponent is Dec. 5 when the team travels to Moscow, Idaho to take on the Idaho Vandals. The Wolf Pack’s final home meet will be Jan. 30 when Nevada hosts Seattle University.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@nevadasagebrush.com.