Astiz faces off against hometown program

On a scale from one to 10, Adrian Astiz said his desire to swim at the University of Maryland following his senior year in high school was a five.

A five was enough to convince the Rockville, Md., native to send a prospective-athlete form to a program that saw its 12-year coach, Jim Wenhold, retire immediately after a fourth consecutive four-win season in 2004-2005. The program is now on its third coach in four years.

Astiz never heard from the significantly shaky program at the time, but was not troubled.

"It's like if you live in Connecticut and came to UConn; seeing all the same people from high school and all that stuff is not what I wanted," said the senior captain.

Perhaps the Terrapins could have used Astiz, who is shaping up to be one of UConn's greats. He is currently UConn's all-time record holder in the 200-butterfly event and 200-medley relay, and top five all-time in the 100-breastroke and 100-butterfly events.

This weekend - beginning Thursday - Maryland will have a first-hand look at its local talent who has made tremendous strides in four years, as they host the sixth annual Terrapin Cup Invitational. Astiz and the rest of the men's and women's swimming and diving teams will seek their second consecutive victory at the nationally recognized Campus Recreation Center Natatorium in College Park, Md., just 20 miles from Rockville.

"I want to make a statement to other swimmers in the Big East - that this year I'm ready to compete and that's kind of the attitude I want the team to take," Astiz said. "I want people to bring an attitude and show it in this meet. You know, show them we're not chumps anymore, we're here to swim."

According to swimming coach Bob Goldberg, this year's field is considerably stronger than what the Huskies have faced in the past. North Carolina State University just had two 2006 graduates, Cullen Jones and Dan Velez, compete in the Beijing Olympics this summer. Conference rival Villanova is seeking revenge after the Huskies defeated them earlier this season. The Terrapins finally have a head coach and a strong women's team that already posted five wins this season. Drexel, Navy, William and Mary (Va.) and Richmond are also looking to put their respective programs on the map.

"It's tougher because Maryland is swimming better than they were last year and N.C. State is back," Goldberg said. "They were not good last year but they were the year before. They actually beat us in a dual meet the year before, so that makes it a tougher group at the top end."

But forget all the variables.

Bury Astiz's story, disregard last year's first place finishes for both the men and women, ignore the Olympic swimmers from N.C. State, Maryland's new head coach and the victory over Villanova, and voila - a Husky unit with no expectations and no pressure, molded by Goldberg himself.

"We can't go in planning to win it, we just have to plan to swim well," he said. "And if we can do that, then we may have a shot at winning it. But if we go in planning to win it, then most likely we won't swim well and it will be a long weekend."

But this team is good and they know it. They want to win.

Astiz called this season's Huskies the "best team" he's been on in his four years.

"We know we can win it this year," said senior captain and 200-butterfly record holder Katie Devinney. "We know that we have the talent and potential to go there and win it again this year."

The Terrapin Cup is the "midterm" of the season, Goldberg said, and it's the first of only two meets that forces the Huskies to rest during the season. According to Goldberg and several seniors, the amount of yards swam in the pool have been cut in half, weight-lifting has been less strenuous, and dry-land workouts have been disregarded completely.

With the loss of NCAA finals swimmer Courtney Haney and two-time all-conference diver Allison Coleman to graduation, the Huskies are going to need contributions from everyone if they want to make a statement, particularly the oblivious freshmen who have already made positive impacts so far this season - most notably Anna Drinka, Caitlin Gallagher and Erin Devinney each taking first place in events at almost all the dual meets this season.

"I'm pretty excited," said Drinka. "It's just another meet. I don't know what to expect from the other team or anything. I mean they're all good. I just try to always swim my race and not worry about anything else."

This is just the attitude Devinney and senior Lisa Shelps hoped the majority of the freshmen would replicate going into this weekend.

"I think something that will help the team and myself is having fun with the competition, for what it's worth," Devinney said.

"I really want to make this easy for the freshmen," said Shelps, a record-holder of five individual events. "I want them to have a good transition from their high school into this big meet. And also a lot of people on this team have come back from injuries. A couple of them are seniors. We really just want to show them that no matter what's in your way, overcome it. It's all in your hands."

The divers also plan on performing better than last year's total 201 points, especially with a state-of-the-art instant replay system at their expense. The Huskies have only been practicing the dives they are going to perform at the meet, coach John Bransfield said.

"We are backing off on some of the number of repetitions and doing lists one at a time, hit or miss," he said. "It's like stepping up at the foul line, take your shot, walk to the other end of the court, come back and take another shot."

And while he expects everyone to compete at a high level, a few divers have the chance of scoring big points for the Huskies. Senior diving captain Liza Marianni has performed well in each of her four years at the Terrapin Cup. Last year she finished second in the three-meter event and expects nothing less than to continue her success.

"I personally don't feel any pressure because I have some pretty good competition awaiting me," Marianni said. "If I just dive well, then that's really all I can ask for."

Bransfield also said sophomore Jessica Hovancik, junior Steven Ferreria, sophomore Adam Genuario and freshman Kelly McCauley could all stand out this weekend.

"I've been focusing more on my goals, trying to step up my game this weekend," Hovancik said. "I'm pumped."