Swimming: Day One of BIG EAST Championships
February 20, 2008 09:10 PM | General
By Kelly Tuckwiller for MSNsportsNET.com
February 20, 2008
BOX SCORE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had an excellent showing on the first day of competition at the BIG EAST Championships at the Nassau Aquatic Center, in East Meadow, N.Y.
“I am very excited about the way we started the meet,” says first-year Head Coach Vic Riggs. “The relay teams got us off to a good start and all together it was an outstanding night; it could not have gone much better.”
After two relays, the women’s team is in fifth place with 77 points, while the men’s team is in third with 60 points behind, Notre Dame and Louisville.
To start the day, the women’s 800 free relay team set a school record with a third-place finish and NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 7:17.69. Juniors Lindsey Largo and Taylor Stallings, along with sophomores Morgan Callaway and Shaunna Purtell broke the previous school record of 7:20.14. Callaway kicked off the event with an outstanding time of 1:47.76, to set another school record.
Next, Callaway joined fellow sophomores Kitti Veisz, Kayla Andrews and Stephanie Shupe to sweep the competition in the 200 medley relay, taking first-place with a time of 1:40.80, which is NCAA ‘B’ provisional time.
Also putting points on the board today was diver Erica Pfeiffer who finished 12th in the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 234.70.
Sophomores Tim Field and Justin Galbreath and freshmen Jeffrey Byrd and Jared Varner started night for the men’s team with a sixth-place finish in the 800 free relay with a time of 6:50.71.
In their last event of the evening, the men’s 200 medley relay team grabbed a second-place finished with a time of 1:27.81, which was just 0.06 seconds behind the first-place Cardinals. Seniors Nick Delic and Kevin Donohue and juniors Michael Walker and Payton Brooks comprised for the NCAA ‘B’ standard.
“We have a good opportunity to swim well this weekend,” says Riggs. “It was important for the relay teams to get us off on the right foot, and they did just that today.”
The second round of the championship resumes on Thursday, with the preliminary session at 10 a.m. The finals session will take place at 6 p.m.
Results will be posted on the BIG EAST website, www.bigeast.org, after each session while live video streaming of each event available through the BIG EAST Championship Central page.
