University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Set For BIG EAST Championship
2/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
STORRS, Conn. (February 18, 2008) - The University of Connecticut men's and women's swimming and diving teams are preparing for the upcoming BIG EAST Championships on Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 20 – 28 in East Meadow, N.Y.
Both teams hope to continue their fast swimming in the major competition of the season after enjoying successful dual meet seasons.
The UConn men’s team completed its regular season with am 8-1 dual meet record, wins at the Husky Invitational and Terrapin Cup and a very good showing at the U.S. Short Course National Championship Meet in December.
The women completed a 7-3 dual meet season with parallel wins at the Husky Invitational and Terrapin Cup and equally positive results at the National Championship meet. Without a full team taper thus far this season, the UConn swimmers have been able to set seven school records and swim at a very high level.
Competition at the BIG EAST Championship meets provide the toughest competition of the season for the Huskies and the one that UConn prepares for the entire year.
"Our team goal since practice began in August is to be ready for the Conference meet in every way possible,” says head coach Bob Goldberg. “I am extremely pleased in the way our team has prepared all season with this goal in mind. Now we have to step up and be our best.”
The UConn women are led by senior Courtney Haney (Mesa, Ariz.), who is having the best season in her career. She is the conference No. 2 seed in the 200 breaststroke and her mid-season time of 2:15.16 represents a career-best mark. Also swimming at her best is junior Lisa Shelps (Quakertown, Pa.). Shelps is now the holder of five individual UConn records and has several NCAA "B" cuts. She also is the conference's second seed in the 200 and 400 Individual Medley.
Divers Liza Marianni (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and Allison Coleman (New Canann, Conn.) are also expected to contend for conference titles in both diving events. Coleman was the 2006 BIG EAST Champion.
The UConn men have two freshman setting school records. Tomasz Sobek (Siemianowice Slaskie, Poland) posted at 2:01.38 in the 200 breaststroke at the Short Course Nationals and Alex Davidson (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) has been stellar all season setting a team record in the 200 backstroke of 1:48.98 and is second seed in the conference. Senior sprinter Chris Ferreira (Madison, Conn.) and junior butterflier Adrian Astiz (Bethesda, Md.) are also expected to be big factors for the Huskies. As with the women, two UConn divers can also make noise at the conference meet. Senior Mike Clifford (West Islip, N.Y.) and sophomore Stephen Ferreira (Madison, Conn.) have been performing consistently well for the Huskies all season.
Competition begins Wednesday evening, February 20 and continues daily through Saturday, February 23.
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BIGEAST.tv the BIG EAST Conference’s online streaming platform will provide exclusive live video of all the swimming championships for subscribers.
The first session of the swimming and diving Championships will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Feb. 20. On Feb. 21-23, preliminary and final sessions will begin at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., respectively. Both days of the Indoor Track & Field Championship will begin at 8:00 a.m. ET.
Fans are able to gain an all-access pass to the content they want by subscribing to any of these three packages:
* Purchase a Swimming & Diving sport-specific package for a one-time price of $9.95.
* Gain access to all BIGEAST.tv content for 30 days with a recurring monthly subscription of $9.95/month.
* Get the best value by subscribing to an annual subscription, which gives fans access to all BIGEAST.tv content for the entire 2007-08 season for $79.95.
Fans can utilize BIGEAST.tv’s seamless registration process to sign up.
To get started:
1. Sign-up for BIGEAST.tv by clicking or by clicking “sign-up” under the video player at or .
2. Once an account is created, fans should visit the BIG EAST’s , where the link to the live event will become available shortly before the event begins.
3. Enter email address and password to log into the BIGEAST.tv media player.
4. Click the “live” tab.
5. Click the appropriate event.
If fans have any trouble accessing the stream, they can , where BIGEAST.tv customer service will answer any questions in a timely manner.
For a one-stop shop for all of the BIG EAST’s coverage of the upcoming Swimming & Diving and Track & Field Championships, fans should visit each sport’s 2008 Championship Central page. Championship central will contain live results, photo galleries, recaps and will house all video archives and more.
