Swimming: Men 4th, Women 7th at Big East
February 20, 2005 12:32 PM | General
February 20, 2005
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams wrapped up the final day of competition at the BIG EAST Championships on Saturday, Feb. 19, with the men taking fourth and the women finishing seventh at the Nassau Aquatics Center in East Meadow, N.Y.
“For the second day on the road the Mountaineers owned the pool,” said Coach Sergio Lopez. “The Mountaineers continued the day with the great energy that we finished with last night.”
The men's fourth-place finish equaled West Virginia's highest-ever finish at the meet when the Mountaineers finished fourth in 1997. Last year the WVU men placed seventh.
The women's team's seventh-place finish was four spots better than last year's 11th-place finish and was the best for the women since 2001 when WVU was seventh.
Highlighting day four was yet another individual and relay title to make five total champions for WVU. Three more school records also fell, giving West Virginia an amazing total of 14 school records broken in four days.
Freshman Pablo Marmolejo claimed the individual title for the Mountaineers as he won the 200 fly. His time of 1:46.72 beat his previous school record.
Also in the 200 fly, senior Pedro Pinto claimed the consolation heat with a time of 1:50.67. Just 20 minutes after finishing the 200 breast event, senior Arda Kostem finished the 200 fly in 1:54.84.
Claiming the relay title for West Virginia was the men’s 400 free relay comprised of Chris Hagedorn, Pinto, Nick Delic and Matt Drozd. The foursome dominated the field as they won by more than a second and a half (2:58.50). The time made the NCAA “B” cut and also broke the previous school record.
The women’s 400 free relay was equally impressive as Maritza Paredes, Erin Tudor, Livia Cascao and Elyse Fisher took fifth overall in a time of 3:28.13.
The men scored high in the 200 breast as freshman Felipe Cunha took second in a school record breaking time of 2:00.98. Kostem took sixth in 2:04.97.
Megan Carlson stepped up in the 200 breast for the women as she set a personal best with a time of 2:22.40. Carlson took 13th overall.
Delic and Drozd took third and fourth place in the 100 free finals, respectively. Delic finished in 44.81 with Drozd right behind in a time of 45.22.
The women had two swimmers finish high in the 100 free finals as Paredes and Tudor took ninth and 10th, respectively. Paredes finished in 50.94 and Tudor clocked in at 51.80.
Julia Warnken (2:06.87) for the women and Steve Early (1:53.64) for the men took 13th in the 200 back.
Junior Ashley Bissett took 14th in the 1650 free in a time of 17:28.51, knocking a remarkable 20 seconds off her season-best time.
Seniors Kevin Van Buskirk (16:00.14) and Tommy Fletcher (16:07.98) finished the 1650 free in 10th and 14th place, respectively.
WVU’s divers completed a solid campaign on the boards on Saturday night. Senior Brian Donahue took sixth in the platform exhibition, while sophomore Jennifer Nyce took 12th overall on both the one and three meter boards.
“We were the most vocal, unified and excited team at the meet and the future is very bright for the Mountaineers,” said Lopez.
