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Saori Haruguchi, Aanna Crandall, Brittney Iverson and Kayla Rawlings are headed to the NCAA championships to compete in the 800 Yard Freestyle after they beat the previous OSU record of 7:24.27 with a time of 7:16.77 at the Pac-10 championships.

Four swimmers to compete among the nation's best

Swimmers will travel this weekend to Minneapolis for the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships

By: Casey Grogan

Posted: 3/6/07

A special ending for what was a special season is in store for the OSU swim team this weekend in Minneapolis, Minn., at the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Led by sophomore Saori Haruguchi, four Beavers will travel to compete with the best Division I swimmers in the nation. Haruguchi, who placed sixth in the nation in the 200-yard butterfly last year, was one of two Beavers to qualify for the NCAA meet during the Pac-10 conference meet at Stanford.

As the Pac-10 meet concluded, Haruguchi - OSU's lone national competitor in 2006 - was joined by sophomore Kayla Rawlings. Rawlings qualified for the 200-yard butterfly by swimming a time trial in a qualifying time. Rawlings joins Haruguchi in the 200-yard butterfly, while Haruguchi will also swim the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley.

"She is so cute," freshman Anna Crandall said. "She say's 'just have fun with it.' Sarah (Mayzes) asked her 'how'd you do last year?' and Saori just said she didn't remember. She is really humble. She said 'just have fun, there are fast girls' but she did say she was a little nervous for it."

During the conference meet the OSU 800-yard freestyle relay team set a new school record with a time of 7:16.77 giving the team the 17th best time in the nation. After all considerations were completed the team snuck into the national championships with the 19 seed.

The relay team, which includes Haruguchi and Rawlings, also features Crandall and freshman Brittney Iverson. Because of the qualification of the two other Beavers on the relay team, Crandall and Iverson will also swim individual events.

Iverson will swim the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle, entering the events with the 60th and 71st best times, respectively, in the field for her events. Crandall will join Iverson in the 200-yard freestyle and swim with Haruguchi in the 200-yard individual medley. In the field Crandall's times are 68th and 69th best.

"I am pretty nervous," Crandall said. "I am so excited for the opportunity to race these girls, but I am really nervous."

Haruguchi and Rawlings times have placed them in the top 20 in the nation for the 200-yard butterfly. Haruguchi, who placed sixth in the event last year, sits in the sixth position by time entering this year's meet. Last year Haruguchi swam the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:57.98; her time entering this year's meet is 1:56.24.

Oregon State hopes that the relay team is a sign of things to come. With two sophomores and two freshmen this team will be competing together for years to come. The relay team now holds a special place in OSU history as the first relay team to qualify for nationals from OSU.

"It's really neat that I get to be on this because it's the first," Crandall said. "Since it's two freshmen and two sophomores, we'll hopefully get to do this for the next couple of years. It is so cool to be the person that does this first."

The meet also holds historical significance because OSU is sending four members. Last year Haruguchi was the only Beaver to compete while in 2005 the team sent three swimmers. Until now, that was the most in Oregon State history.

Without a diving team the Beavers will not make a run at a team championship. With four members competing, however, the Beavers look to crack the top 30. In 2006 by herself Haruguchi scored 14.5 points putting, OSU in 31st place.

Fast times are to be expected at the meet especially from familiar competition: At last year's NCAA meet four Pac-10 schools finished in the top 10 with Arizona, California, Stanford and Southern California finishing third, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

In the 200-yard butterfly, the top six times belong to Pac-10 competitors; in eight individual events the top time belongs to a Pac-10 swimmer.

"University of Arizona we swam against at Pac-10's," Crandall said. "When they announce them they are like 'world record holder, past Olympian, past world games' all these huge titles. They've gone to all these huge events."

The national meet announcement brought much emotion for the Beaver swim team.

"When we found out we were for sure going it was an adrenaline rush," Crandall said. "When I think about leaving in the morning it is like 'wow.' I am sure we will get nervous when we get to the pool."

The moment was so emotional that head coach Larry Liebowitz broke down in tears.

"We were at practice and he started crying," Crandall said. "He really, really wanted this.

"It's always a toss-up, you never know if you're going to go or not. This year there was a lot of controversy, so he was really excited to have met that goal. He's been coaching for so long that it's a big deal."