Florida Gators
Men's NCAA Champs. - Day 2
Freshman Wins NCAA Title, UF in Fifth at NCAAs
Saturday, March 30, 2002 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Freshman Adam Sioui claimed the 200-yard freestyle individual title, and the University of Florida finished the second day of competition at the 2002 Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in fifth place with 190 points. Texas leads the competition with 376 points, followed closely by Stanford with 361 points.
"We're really pleased with our second day of competition," said Head Coach Gregg Troy. "We had a lot of good swims. We're not quite as strong in the 100 events, but we're looking forward to the 200s tomorrow."
The Gators began the night strong with a win in the consolation final of the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:27.95. Gabriel Mangabeira led off with the backstroke, giving Florida a slight edge, and Ansel Tjin-A-Tam followed in the breaststroke to extend Florida's lead. Hendrik Odendaal's performance in the butterfly portion put the Gators ahead by half a second, and Jim Kostowicz sealed the win with his performance in the anchor leg of the race. Stanford set a new pool record with its winning time of 1:25.47.
In the 400-yard individual medley championship final, Eric Donnelly finished in sixth place, clocking in at 3:48.31, while Duncan Sherrard placed eighth with his time of 3:50.43. Southern California's Erik Vendt set a new pool record with his winning time of 3:40.65. Gabriel Mangabeira came in eighth in the consolation finals of the 100-yard butterfly, clocking in at 48.36. Texas' Ian Crocker set a new NCAA record in the event with his first-place time of 45.44.
The story of the night was Sioui, who won the individual title in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:34.67. The Ontario, Canada native, who was the Southeastern Conference champion in the same event, spent six days last week at the Commonwealth Games Trials before traveling straight from Canada to Athens, Ga., for the NCAA Championships.
"I'm kind of on a roll right now," said Sioui. "All year the training has been tough, but it's definitely been worth it. It's good to see some top times here."
The last Gator to win an NCAA title in the 200-yard freestyle was Mike Heath in 1984, the same year the Florida men's team won its last national team championship.
"It was definitely an outstanding performance by Adam," said Troy. "Coming off of Commonwealth Games Trials, he was just outstanding. He swam a technically perfect race for a freshman."
In the 100-yard backstroke, Mike Jansen finished second in the consolation final, clocking in at 47.79, and Chris Kellam finished in fourth on the consolation final with a time of 48.00. Peter Marshall of Stanford won the event with his time of 45.91.
Florida's team of Carlos Jayme, Sioui, Scott Schultz and Sherrard closed out Friday's competition with a sixth-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, clocking in at 6:28.00.
Eleven Florida swimmers earned 14 All-America honors during Friday's competition.
Competition continues Saturday at 11 a.m. with preliminaries and finals at 7 p.m. Results of both preliminaries and finals are available at www.gatorzone.com on the men's swimming and diving home page.
Saturday's Events
1650-yard freestyle
200-yard backstroke
100-yard freestyle
200-yard breaststroke
200-yard butterfly
Platform diving
400-yard freestyle relay
AGATE
200-yard medley relay
1. Randall Bal, Michael Bruce, Matt McDonald, Peter Marshall, Stanford, 1:25.47: 2. Tom Hannan, Brendan Hansen, Daniel DiToro, Ian Crocker, Texas, 1:25.80: 3. Todd Smolinski, Jeff Hackler, Bjorn Lundin, Terry Silkaitis, Minnesota, 1:25.87
400-yard individual medley
1. Erik Vendt, USC, 3:40.65: 2. Robert Margalis, Georgia, 3:41.42: 3. Kevin Clements, Auburn, 3:43.19
100-yard butterfly
1. Ian Crocker, Texas, 45.44: 2. Peter Marshall, Stanford, 46.48: 3. Roland Schoeman, Arizona, 46.50
200-yard freestyle
1. Adam Sioui, Florida, 1:34. 67: 2. Dan Ketchum, Michigan, 1:34.76: 3. Klete Keller, USC, 1:35.42
100-yard breaststroke
1. Brendan Hansen, Texas, 52.47: 2. Patrick Calhoun, Auburn, 52.72: Jeff Hackler, Minnesota, 53.24
100-yard backstroke
1. Peter Marshall, Stanford, 45.91: 2. Alex Lim, California, 46.05: 3. Randall Bal, Stanford, 46.13
3-meter diving
1. Troy Dumais, Texas, 673.80: 2. Imre Lengyel, Miami, 624.30: 3. Philip Jones, Tennessee, 623.15
800-yard freestyle relay
1. Jeff Lee, Rodrigo Castro, Tamas Kerekjarto, Klete Keller, USC, 6:17.35: 2. Chris Kemp, Ranier Kendrick, John Suchand, Ian Crocker, Texas, 6:23.78: 3. Garrett Mangieri, Brendan Neligan, Andrew Hurd, Dan Ketchum, Michigan, 6:25.72
