College Review : UCSD Women May Challenge for Swim Title

SAN DIEGO — After coaching the UC San Diego swimming teams for 11 years, Bill Morgan knows there is a difference between how a team looks on paper and how it performs in the pool.

But Morgan can’t help but get excited anyway.

Morgan said UCSD has brought its strongest team to the NCAA Division III women’s swimming championships, which will be held today through Saturday at Emory University in Atlanta.

“Everybody is saying we look just as good as Kenyon on paper,” Morgan said. “On paper it looks like a draw, but they have a lot of experience. (Kenyon) is a senior-junior dominated team, and we’re a sophomore-freshman team.”

Ohio’s Kenyon College has dominated Division III swimming. The women have won four consecutive titles, and the men are trying to become one of the few teams to win nine championships in a row in any sport. The others were USC men’s track (1935-43), Yale golf (1905-13) and Iowa wrestling (1978-86).

Teams are allowed to bring no more than 18 swimmers to the national meet, no matter how many beat national qualifying times. For the first time, Morgan had to leave a swimmer home who had qualified.

Of UCSD’s entries, eight are freshmen and five are sophomores.

The freshmen are led by Crystal Konno, ranked in the top five in six individual events, and Jenna Banaszek. Konno is top-seeded in the 200-meter individual medley and also competes in the 100 and 200 freestyle, 100 and 200 breaststroke and the 200 butterfly. Banaszek competes in the 200, 500 and 1,650 freestyles and 100 butterfly.

Morgan is concerned about how his young swimmers will react in a big meet.

“(Kenyon) has a lot of experience,” he said. “And we’re an unknown entity.”

UCSD does have an experienced swimmer in senior Tracy Mulvaney, the top-seeded entry in the 200 and 500 freestyles.

UCSD finished third in last year’s national meet and was second in 1986, but the Tritons have been unable to catch Kenyon.

“We started out chasing these guys seven years ago when we went to NCAA,” Morgan said. “I think we’re finally approaching their talent level. People are saying UCSD has really taken the step to be a contender.”

The Palomar College men’s basketball team picked the perfect time to go on a winning streak.

Palomar was seeded 11th in the Southern California Regional but finds itself in the eight-team state community college men’s basketball championships.

Palomar (25-8), with nine consecutive victories, will play top-seeded Columbia (31-2) of Sonora in a quarterfinal game today at 3 p.m. at Santa Clara University.

Palomar finished second to Imperial Valley College in the Pacific Coast Conference. But the Comets have played well lately.

Palomar won three regional games, including an 82-79 second-round victory over defending state champion Ventura in Ventura. Palomar defeated Pasadena at home Saturday to earn its first trip to the state tournament since 1982.

The keys for Palomar have been forward Gary Williams, who averages 25.2 points per game, and the return of point guard Derwin Wesley, who suffered a separated shoulder early in the season. Palomar has not lost in nine games since Wesley returned in the middle of February.

Palomar Coach Andy Gilmore said another key has been the play of center Rich Prusinski, who played at San Pasqual High School. Prusinski (6-feet 5-inches) is the tallest player on the team.

“We were the smallest team in league, and we’ll probably be the smallest team at state,” Gilmore said.

The United States International University men’s golf team will play host to the seventh annual USIU Invitational Sunday through Tuesday at the San Luis Rey Downs golf course.

The 17-team field includes San Diego State, Cal State Long Beach, Washington State and Nevada Reno.

UC San Diego’s John Keler finished third in epee in the NCAA West Region fencing tournament and qualified to qualify for the national championship meet March 23-26 at Princeton.

UCSD finished second to Army in the team event.