Swimming: WVU Men Defeat UConn, Women Fall
January 29, 2005 06:24 PM | General
January 29, 2005
STORRS, Conn. - The West Virginia University men's swimming and diving team downed UConn 160-142 on Saturday, Jan. 29, in Storrs, Conn., while the women fell 172-132 to the Huskies.
"The team did a good job today," said head coach Sergio Lopez. "The team is looking very good and I am positive we are going to have a good showing at the BIG EAST Championships.
The WVU men finish out the regular season 7-5, while the women drop to 5-8. The UConn men drop to 4-2 and the women improve to 4-2.
Seven more swimmers for the Mountaineers qualified for the BIG EAST Championships with their times on Saturday. Lopez's teams qualified 30 swimmers in all in his first season in Morgantown.
WVU's 200 medley men's relay started out the meet with a convincing first place finish by breaking the pool record. Rick Mann, newcomer Nick Delic, Pedro Pinto and Matt Drozd combined in the race to finish in 1:31.79, almost two seconds ahead of UConn's top relay team that took second (1:31.79).
Mann claimed the first individual first-place finish of the day for the men when he won the 100 back in 52.22.
The Mountaineers dominated the 200 fly as Pablo Marmolejo took first in 1:51.12, Pinto took second in 1:54.87 and Mike Kristufek finished third in 1:56.39 to qualify himself for the BIG EAST Championships.
Marmolejo also won the 200 back in 1:52.88 and the 400 IM in 4:02.10 to close out his first regular season of collegiate swimming.
In the 50 free junior Chris Hagedorn claimed first in 20.33 seconds, breaking the pool record, but the highlight of the event was Delic who took second and qualified for the BIG EAST Championships.
Delic would not be done there as he ended up qualifying for the conference championship meet in the 100 free by winning the event in a time of 45.81 as well as in the 100 fly (50.08) as he took second place. Pinto won the 100 fly event and broke the pool record with his time of 49.39.
Senior Arda Kostem looked impressive in the 200 breast as he won the event in 2:05.33. Freshman Felipe Cunha captured second in 2:06.09.
In the 1000 free Kevin Van Buskirk, Nathan Furman and Tommy Fletcher took second, third and fourth place, respectively. Van Buskirk finished in 9:51.74 and Furman fought off Fletcher as he finished in 9:57.78. Fletcher touched the wall right behind Furman at 9:58.76.
Furman also qualified for the BIG EAST Championsips in the 400 IM (4:16.20), the mile (16:25.00) and the 500 free (4:48.35).
Senior Kyle Gallo qualified for the BIG EAST Championships in three events as well on the day. Gallo made the cut in the 50 free (21.41), 100 free (1:00.53) and the 100 breast (1:00.53).
The men wrapped up the meet by sweeping the relays with a first-place finish and another pool record in the 200 free relay. Drozd, Pinto, Hagedorn and Kyle Williams finished in 1:23.05.
For the women freshman Maritza Paredes had one of her best meets to date as she improved her undefeated streak in individual events to 10 events by winning the 200 free (1:51.97), 100 fly (58.19) and broke the pool record in the 100 free (52.08).
Senior Livia Cascao won the 50 free by only eight-tenths of a second when she touched the wall to finish in 24.69, out touching UConn's Cathy Brown (24.77).
Also winning an individual event was freshman swimmer Tina Gabrilo who took first in the 400 IM in a time of (4:30.02).
In the 200 free relay Paredes, Cascao, Fisher and Erin Tudor combined to win the relay in convincing fashion. The foursome finished in 1:37.58, beating out UConn's relay that finished in 1:39.85.
Three more Mountaineer women qualified for the BIG EAST Championships with their performances during the meet.
Junior Jessica Banner qualified with a third-place finish in the mile (17:43.89) and a fourth-place finish in the 500 free (5:12.41).
Freshman Bonnie Sutton qualified with two fourth-place finishes in the 100 back (59.76), 200 back (2:14.42) as well as a fifth-place finish in the 400 IM (4:39.40).
Freshman Elyse Fisher also qualified on the afternoon in the 50 free (24.46) and 100 free (54.28).
The Mountaineers return to action when they travel to the BIG EAST Championships from Feb. 18-20 in East Meadow, N.Y.
