STORRS, Conn. - With the 2001 BIG EAST Conference Championships less than a week away, the University of Connecticut men's and women's swimming and diving teams played host to the First Annual Husky Invitational on Feb. 9 and 10 at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium in Storrs.

The invitational served as a season ending championship for regional schools, where swimmers could meet conference qualifying and season best times. The 2000-2001 season marked the first year in which BIG EAST swimmers and divers had to meet qualifying standards in order to compete at the conference meet to be held on Feb. 15-17 at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in Uniondale, N.Y. And, according to UConn coach Bob Goldberg, "the best of the BIG EAST will be there."

In all, 22 women and 11 men from the Husky squad qualified for BIG EAST competition. Saturday's portion of the Husky Invitational brought three Connecticut swimmers to that list of qualifiers. Senior Shelley Jackson (Milford, N.H.) turned in a qualifying time of 2 minutes, 9.33 seconds in the 200-yard butterfly. Freshman Brian Pordon (Stockholm, N.J.) clocked in a pair of qualifying times in the 100 (54.08) and 200 (1:55.09) backstrokes, while fellow freshman Lauren Kopajtic (Jarrettsville, Md.) qualified in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:29.91.

Four UConn divers will also travel to Long Island to participate in the one-meter and three- meter diving programs at the BIG EAST Championships. Senior Megan Law (Danielson, Conn.), sophomores Melissa Kull (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Kevin McKinney (Mt. Laurel, N.J), and freshman Chase Dunlap (Canandaigua, N.Y.) made qualifications for the conference meet. McKinney (one and three-meter) and Law (one-meter) also qualified for the NCAA Zone Meet.

The University of Pittsburgh men and the No. 15 nationally-ranked University of Notre Dame women will defend their titles at the three-day conference meet. Several 2000 U.S. Olympians will also headline the BIG EAST competition on the women's side. On each day of the BIG EAST Championships, preliminaries will begin at 10:30 a.m., while finals will follow at 6:30 p.m.