SHENANDOAH, Texas - The Trinity University
men's and women's swimming and diving teams maintained their
respective leads after the third day of the 2011 Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving
championships.
Day Three Team Scores
The Trinity men entered Friday with a 10 point lead over DePauw University only to see the Indiana Tigers cut that lead in half (636 to 631). DePauw picked up wins in the 200 medley relay (1:34.10), 100 breast (SCAC championship record 56.51), 100 back (52.55) and 800 free relay (6:53.56). The 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free were the final three events of the night.
Sophomore Matt Kukurugya of DePauw set the championship record with his 56.51 win in the 100 breast stroke. First-year teammate Cameron Wiethoff won the 100 back while the relay team of George Morrison, Matt Haeske, Josh Baugh and Johnny Montgomery took top honors in the 800 free relay. Kukurugya, Wiethoff, Montgomery and Matt Gleason won the 200 medley relay.
Trinity junior Alex Miranda, the 2010 SCAC Championship Swimmer of the Meet, won the 400 IM with a time of 4:05.89. Teammate Matthew Wey also placed in the top 8 with a 5th-place finish (4:16.92). Trinity's Spencer Bard was just over a half a second from winning the 100 fly but could not overcome Jordan DeGayner of Colorado College, as DeGayner swam a 50.10 to win. DeGayner broke the SCAC 100 fly meet record - the oldest men's swimming record still on the books - with a 49.83 swim in the prelims earlier in the day. Daniel Garrison of DePauw owned the previous mark of 50.05 swam at the 2000 championships.
Andrew Battles (1:42.29) won the 200 freestyle while Kevin Martin ran away in the men's 3-meter diving competition. Martin tallied a 534.35. His score was just 1.1 points away from tying the record set by Sewanee's Jon Morris in 1999. Martin's score ranks as the second best total in the men's 3-meter in SCAC history.
In women's action, Trinity's quartet of Kristen Zinser, Morgan Briggs, Mary Price and Ana Price won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:48.95. It marked the only win of the night for the Tigers.
Other women's races saw Centre College's Lauren Gates win the 400 IM (4:35.76) and Sewanee: University of the South's Sarah Neil defend her title with a win in the 100 fly (57.51). In the 200 free, Centre first-year Clark Weber picked up a win while clocking a 1:54.15. DePauw's Katie Baker won the 100 breast (1:04.91).
Southwestern University's Sarah Ayers improved on her second place showing a year ago in the 100 back to earn the win this year with a time of 57.22. Both she and Centre's Colleen Maggard (57.23) posted NCAA "A" cut times as Ayers beat Maggard to the wall by .01 seconds. Ayers actually broke the SCAC championship record earlier in the day during prelims by posting a 56.95 finish. She bested the previous mark set by DePauw's Katie Reis back in 2001 of 58.98 by 1.03 seconds.
The night ended with a record setting performance as Centre's
800 free relay team of Meghan Holliday, Colleen Maggard, Gates and
Weber set the new conference mark with a time of 7:43.53. They
shattered the previous mark set at last year's championship meet by
6.24 seconds.
In all, four new SCAC championship meet records were set on Friday
with two NCAA "A" cuts and 13 NCAA "B" cuts achieved.
After three days of competition in Shenandoah, eight SCAC
championship meet records have been broken, and two NCAA "A" cuts
and 24 NCAA "B" cuts have been achieved.
Day four of the 2011 SCAC Championships resumes at the Conroe ISD Natatorium on Saturday, February 19 with preliminary action at 10:30 a.m. CT followed by championship finals action at 6:30 p.m. CT.
For complete results, photos and interviews as well as recaps of each day of competition, log on to the Official Site of the 2011 SCAC Swimming & Diving Championships.
