Swimming: Mountaineers Break Two Meet Records
February 22, 2008 10:09 PM | General
By Kelly Tuckwiller for MSNsportsNET.com
February 22, 2008
MEET RESULTS
MEET RESULTS
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams broke two meet records today, at the BIG EAST Championships at the Nassau Aquatic Center, in East Meadow, N.Y.
“We had a good evening and everyone did well all of the way through,” says Head Coach Vic Riggs. “I am really proud about how we raced today, we had some time for kids to make some adjustment from this morning and they did; they all finished the day off well.”
After three days of competition, the women’s team is in third place with 317.5 points, while the men are holding steady in fourth place with 265.5 points.
For the women’s team, juniors Lindsey Largo and Isabel Perez started off the evening with a sixth and 14th place finish in the 400 IM. Largo’s time of 4:23.08 qualified as a NCAA ‘B’ standard time, while Perez finished with a personal best time of 4:29.13.
Up next for the women was the 100 butterfly in which sophomore Stephanie Shupe came in fourth (55.74) and junior Taylor Stallings came in seventh (56.41). Sophomore Shaunna Purtell also had an outstanding performance today with a sixth place finish in the 200 free stopping the clock at 1:50.77, respectively.
In the 100 breast event, sophomore Kitti Veisz posted a ninth place finish with NCAA ‘B’ time of 1:03.22. In the 100 back, WVU sophomore Morgan Callaway dominated with a first place finish. Callaway’s time of 54.96 broke a school record and qualifies as a NCAA ‘B’ time. Also placing in the 100 back was sophomore Kayla Andrews, who finished with a time of 56.91.
The men’s team also had and excellent showing this evening breaking two BIG EAST swimming and diving records.
The night began for the men with a first place finish in the 400 IM from junior Michael Walker, who posted a NCAA ‘B’ standard and meet record time of 3:50.14. Sophomore Justin Galbreath also placed in the event with a 12th finish (4:01.55), while senior Nick Delic continued his success with a third place showing in the 100 butterfly (48.55)
To highlight the evening, senior Kevin Donohue posted a first place finish in the 100 breast event. Donohue’s time of 53.07 is a meet and school record, as well as an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Championships.
Also placing in the 100 breast was senior Felipe Cunha and junior Nathan Farmer. Farmer finished in 11th (56.73), while Cunha came in 13th (56.95).
In the last individual event for the men the 100 back, sophomore Tim Field put points on the board with a personal best ninth place finish (50.74).
In the relay events, the women’s team dominated with a first place showing in the 400 medley relay. The sophomore team of Callaway, Shupe, Veisz and Andrews stopped the clock at 3:41.46, which is also a NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time.
On the men’s side, seniors Delic and Donohue, along with juniors Walker and Payton Brooks posted a strong second place finish with a NCAA ‘B’ time of 3:13.52.
The BIG EAST Championships will conclude on Saturday, 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.
