Swimming: WVU Breaks Two School Records
February 18, 2005 01:11 AM | General
By Jarrod Sudduth for MSNsportsNET.com
February 18, 2005
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams posted two school records and a number of personal bests in day two of the BIG EAST championships on Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in East Meadow, N.Y.
 |
||
| West Virginia's victorious 200 IM team on the winner's platform during the 2005 Big East Swimming and Diving Championships at the Nassau Aquatics Center in East Meadow, N.Y.
Steven R. Smith photo |
The Mountaineer women are in eighth place after two days with 93 points while the men are fifth with 161 points. Despite its fifth place position, the WVU men are within ten points of fourth place Connecticut (162) and third place Rutgers (169). Overall, West Virginia posted a total of six top 10 finishes to go along with a new school record in the men’s 200 IM and 200 freestyle relay.
In the women’s 200 freestyle relay, the tandem of freshmen Erin Tudor, Maritza Paredes and Elyse Fisher and senior Livia Cascao recorded a time of 1:35.33, the fourth fastest time in school history, en route to a sixth place finish.
“Posting that type of time is huge when you consider the fact that there are three freshmen on the relay,” head coach Sergio Lopez says.
The men’s 200 free relay squad consisting of senior Matt Drozd, junior Chris Hagedorn, sophomore Kyle Williams and freshman Nick Delic set a new school record after finishing third with a time of 1:20.72.
“I really think that we could have won that race,” Lopez says. “We made a few mistakes that beat us in the end. I don’t think that we were ready for the pressure. Our guys have never been in that type of situation before and they needed some more experience.”
Freshman Tina Gabrilo was West Virginia’s top finisher in the 200 IM, finishing 14th with a personal best time of 2:07.38. The Split, Croatia, native’s time was the fifth best time in school history. On the men’s side, freshman Pablo Marmolejo set a new school record after placing second with a time of 1:49.80. The Mexico City, Mexico, native was just .18 of a second slower than first place finisher Tim Kegelman of Notre Dame.
“Pablo did a great job for us today,” Lopez says. “Breaking a school record as a freshman is big for him.”
In the women’s 50 free, both Paredes and Tudor recorded personal best times en route to their 12th and 13th place respective finishes. Paredes recorded a time of 23.85, the fifth best time in school history, while Tudor registered a mark of 23.86, the sixth best time in WVU history.
Drozd and Hagedorn led the Mountaineer effort in the men’s 50 free where they placed second and third respectively. Drozd, a native of Ross Township, Pa., finished the race with a time of 20.24, while Hagedorn, a Clarksburg, W.Va., native, recorded a final mark of 20.35. Delic also captured a top ten finish after placing eighth with a time of 20.81.
In day’s diving events, sophomore Jennifer Nyce scored a 190.95 to finish 12th in the one meter dive. The Souderton, Pa., native accumulated five points for West Virginia and became the first diver in recent memory to score at the BIG EAST meet.
“Overall, I thought we had a really good day today,” Lopez says. “We have a lot going for us right now and we are ahead of our pace from last year. By the time Saturday rolls around, we should be in good shape.”
Competition resumes tomorrow at the Nassau County Aquatics Center at 10:30 a.m. with Friday’s preliminaries. The day’s finals are scheduled to get underway at approximately 6 p.m.
