Event: Big West Conference Championships
Where: Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool – Long Beach, Calif.
When: Today through Saturday; all day
Who to watch: Senior Trent Richardson will be hard to miss in the pool this weekend. Standing 6-foot-9, Richardson will be leading the 9-3 Aggies into the Big West Championships.
Richardson, who is also the team captain, has been optimistic about the season since its beginning and has high expectations that the Aggies could win it all this weekend.
Since his arrival, Richardson has claimed top marks in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle events. He’s leading the team with a top time of 44.99 seconds in the 100-free.
Richardson has also made contributions in team relays, contributing to new school records in the 200-free relay (1:21.02), the 400-free relay (2:58.36) and in the 800-free relay (6:35.05).
Did you know? Hailing from Waialua, Hawaii, Richardson is the only out-of-state athlete on the UC Davis swimming and diving roster.
Preview: The men and women’s swimming and diving team will be making the 400-plus-mile haul to Long Beach Olympic Pool this week to represent UC Davis in what will most likely be the fastest collegiate swim meet they’ve ever encountered.
The opportunity to walk away as Big West Champions weighs on the minds of every swimmer this weekend, as UC Davis has promising odds of knocking off the reigning 2008 Big West Champions: the men and women from UC Santa Barbara.
Both the men’s and women’s squads look poised, as they’ve tapered this week in preparation. The Aggie women ended their dual season 9-10 overall, while the men took a decisive 9-3 record.
Leading up to the Championships, the men have potential to place in every event at the meet. The men currently have posted eight of the fastest times in the conference, and are in the top three in the remaining events.
Meanwhile, the women’s field looks to be evenly distributed with top times coming from UC Davis, UCSB and Cal Poly.
On the women’s side, the swimmer to watch will be junior Heidi Kucera. She’s claimed no less than three individual wins in each meet this season.
– Andrea Gutierrez
