Swim Teams Ready For 2011 Division II National Championship Meet
Five Swimmers Prepare To Hit The Water In Texas
Bridgeport, Conn.-After a fine showing at the 2011 Metropolitan Conference Championships, the University of Bridgeport men's and women's swimming teams are in their final preparations for the 2011 NCAA Division II National Championships which will be held at the Palo Alto Natatorium in San Antonio, Texas from March 9 through March 12. The Purple Knights will depart campus on Monday, March 7 to head for the Lone Star State.
At the 2011 Metro Conference Championships, the UB men were the top Division I/II finisher and were third overall, and the Bridgeport women were fifth overall.
Four UB men will be heading to the 2011 Division II National Championship), Oscar Pereiro (Fr., Aruza, Spain) Piotr Safronczyk (Sr., Bialystok, Poland), Nikola Savic (Sr. Novi Sad, Serbia) and Toni Valcic (Soph., Ribnica, Slovenia) will be heading to Texas. In the team's first season at the varsity level in 2010, the Bridgeport men took 17th place at the Division II National Championships which were held in Canton, Ohio, and Pitor Safronczyk won the national title in the 100-yard breaststroke.
On the women's side, freshman Sonia Arau (Barcelona, Spain) will be the lone UB swimmer. Sonia will compete in a total of six individual events over the four-day event. Last season, the UB women finished 14 at the Division II National Championships.
Here is a listing of the individual events that each UB swimmer will compete in at the 2011 Division II National Championship.
For the men:
Oscar Pereiro:-50-yard freestyle, 100-yard Backstroke (# 2 seed), 100-yard Freestyle
Piotr Safronczyk: 200-yard IM, 100-yard breaststroke (2010 NCAA Champion),
200-yard breaststroke
Nikola Savic: 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke
Toni Valcic: 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle
For the women:
Sonia Arau:-500-yard freestyle, 1,000-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke (# 4 seed), 200-yard IM, 400-yard IM (# 3 seed)
The UB men will compete in four relay events at the 2011 Nationals:
200-yard medley relay (# 3 seed)
400-yard medley relay
200-yard freestyle relay (# 1 seed)
400-yard freestyle relay