Swimming: WVU Falls Short to Virginia Tech
January 21, 2006 03:22 PM | General
January 21, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams fell short in a highly contested meet to Virginia Tech on Saturday, Jan. 21, at the WVU Natatorium.
The men were defeated 125-112, while the women lost 148-88.
"Virginia Tech is a great team," head coach Sergio Lopez said. "For our girls to swim the way they did against such a good team was great. Our goal was to do better than last year and that's what we did. They stepped up and I'm very happy."
Two WVU Natatorium records were broken on the day. Sophomore Pablo Marmolejo broke his own record in the 200 fly with a time of 1:47.81 against one of the top butterflier's in the country in Virginia Tech's Gus Calado. The men's 400 relay came up big in the last event of the day to win and set the new pool record of 3:02.25. Seniors Chris Hagedorn, Rick Mann, freshman Andrew Langenfeld and sophomore Nick Delic combined for the record time.
Hagedorn won two individual events, swimming to another 50 free victory (20.23) and also winning the 100 free (45.61), while Delic placed second (46.06). Marmolejo's second win of the day came in the 200 IM with a time of 1:47.81. The 200 breast proved to be a successful event for West Virginia as the Mountaineers took the top three spots. Sophomore Felipe Cunha grabbed first with a time of 2:07.12 followed by freshman Nathan Farmer in second (2:09.34) and freshman Casey Beckwith in third (2:09.65). Langenfeld finished second in the 50 free (21.28) behind Hagedorn, while freshman Michael Walker grabbed second in the 200 back (1:51.92).
In relay action, the Mountaineers came up huge in the 400 medley to grab the top two spots. Mann, Delic, Marmolejo and Langenfeld won with a time of 3:23.85, while Walker, Cunha, senior Kyle Williams and freshman Antonio Cisneros came in second (3:29.24).
"We didn't have any diving today on the men's side, so we started 32 points down," Lopez said. "The way they came back from that and made the meet competitive was huge."
For the women, the Mountaineers took the top three spots in the 200 breast. Freshman Isabel Perez finished first with a time of 2:23.45 with freshman Meghan Fiene coming in second (2:26.61) and senior Olga Tzinker third (2:27.62). Freshman Rachel Fedyk continues to be impressive in the 50 free as she placed second (24.25) and sophomore Erin Tudor came in third (24.61). Freshman Natalie Lautzenheiser came in second in the 200 fly (2:08.36) while Tudor finished second in the 100 free (52.56).
"Both squads are gaining a lot of respect," Lopez said. "In speaking with other coaches, this is the best squad people have seen on both sides in the last eight years."
The Mountaineers return to action when they travel to UConn to face the Huskies in the final meet of the season on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1 p.m. in Storrs, Conn.
