Two weeks after returning from a difficult training period in Puerto Rico, the 27-member swimming and diving team hits the road again.

This time, instead of flying in comfort, they are bussing the five hours to Storrs, Conn., home soil for 50 UConn swimmers and divers.

Saturday, when the two teams swim in the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium at noon, it will be one day short of a year since their last encounter. Last year, the teams met at Webster Pool and both the Orangemen (124-114) and Orangewomen (134-109) beat UConn, whose men stand at 4-4, while the women lie at 4-3.

At that meet, like this weekend’s, Syracuse (men 2-4, women 4-2) had put two weeks between itself and its most intense training of the year. Two weeks after Puerto Rico, the Orange broke three Webster Pool records. It was arguably the team’s most impressive performance of the regular season.

Still, the meet was close.

‘We have been looking forward to this meet all year long,’ sophomore Elyse McDonough said. ‘They are tough. We know the competition will be there.’

This meet also presents obstacles — injuries to men’s star Djordje Filipovic and hours of travel — more daunting than last year’s.

Road weariness, at least, is an obstacle that should be easy to overcome, sophomore Annie Tudryn said. This team is used to it. For their Oct. 27 meet in Pittsburgh, the team rode a bus that stopped for uniforms in Buffalo, making the driving time roughly seven hours one way.

‘Anything would be better than that,’ Tudryn said.

This meet is particularly important for Tudryn, a breaststroker who helped break the women’s Webster Pool 400-yard medley relay record last year.

Tudryn, who as a freshman placed second and fifth at the Big East Championships in the 200- and 100-yard breaststrokes, respectively, expects her toughest competition of the season to come from UConn junior Kate Larson. Larson, from Sayville, placed first and second, respectively, in the two events at Big East.

‘This is the meet I’ve been thinking about and looking forward to all year,’ Tudryn said. ‘It will allow me to see exactly where I am and what I need to do in the next few weeks.’

The next few weeks, of course, count down to the Big East Championship, where the two will square off again. SU’s encounter this weekend will establish a benchmark, expectations for the big one a few weeks away.

‘So, I’ve been a little distraught, I guess,’ Tudryn said, laughing. ‘Not really, though. I am excited for the challenge. I mean, what is the point of racing if you’re not going to race hard?’

Despite the anticipation, the two breaststrokers probably will not be racing at their best. Only two weeks after the training trip, fatigue will probably still be a considerable factor for the breaststrokers in Storrs.

‘Your sprinters are going to be a little behind your distance kids at this point in the season,’ SU coach Lou Walker said Saturday. ‘The sprinters need a little more recovery time to be going fast than your more endurance-oriented kids do.’

At Webster Pool last year, Tudryn beat Larson in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:20.36, more than four seconds slower than her winning time at the Big East.

This year UConn finds Tudryn again not at full speed. It was only this week that her training soreness began to subside, she said.

‘It takes a few weeks,’ Tudryn said. ‘Next week will be when I’m feeling a total change.’

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Published on January 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm