Teams: UC Davis at Nevada; Washington State
Where: Lombardi Pool – Reno, Calif.
When: Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Who to watch: Sophomore Linda Hermann is leading the Aggies into Reno.
The sophomore is already heating up the pool this season, having won events at both the UC Santa Cruz dual and the Pacific Invitational.
The Solano Beach, Calif. won the 100-yard free style in 53.72 in Santa Cruz on Saturday, and made her mark at Pacific by winning the 500-yard free in 5:02.42.
The Pacific Invitational was a good warm-up for Hermann, as she edged out two Washington State swimmers who will be back in the pool against the Aggies on Saturday.
“Linda consistently produces,” said women’s head coach Barbara Jahn. “She’s one of the girls that have upped the ante with work ethic and attendance and that’s good. Really good.”
Did you know? Hermann won three straight San Diego Section Division I titles in the 200 free at Torrey Pines High School. She is also fluent in German.
Preview: Coming off of a strong showing at UC Santa Cruz, the UC Davis women travel to Reno to face two-time Western Athletic Conference Champion Nevada as well as the Washington State Cougars.
This will be the second time the three teams have met this season. They faced each other at the Pacific Invitational, in which the Aggies only participated in the first day of the two-day meet.
Meanwhile, Washington State came away with the win. Falling just behind the Cougars was the Wolf Pack to claim second.
Both the Aggies and Cougars will be putting their best lineups forward on Saturday, as racing at Nevada’s pool can be challenging.
“There’s definitely a home pool advantage, but Washington will also be experiencing what we do.… The altitude plays a big role, not to mention it’s an indoor pool and they bring their band – their whole band.”
Despite the home pool advantage, the Aggies look to plan their races accordingly.
“We’ll have to consider strategy, but also look for a lot of close races,” Jahn said.
–Andrea Gutierrez
