University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Men's Swimming Continues Dominance at US Open
12/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The US Open is sponsored by USA Swimming and is swam in an Olympic size pool of 50-meters.
The Gophers' first-place 400-meter medley relay team consisted of Todd Smolinski, Mike Brown, Matt Taylor, and Allen Ong. The foursome finished with a time of 3:46.64, which meets the national cut and is also a B standard time, which provisionally qualifies them for the NCAA Championships. Placing second in the 400 medley relay was another group of Gophers. The team of Diego Urreta, Jeff Hackler, Anders Bo Pederson, and Terry Silkaitis came in with another national cut time of 3:50.76.
Individually for the Maroon and Gold, Todd Smolinski placed fifth in the A Final of the 100-meter backstroke. His time of 57.03 qualifies him for the Olympic tryouts, in addition o making the National cut. Also in the 100-meter backstroke, Adam Mitchell and Michael Melrose placed one-two respectively in the C Final.
In the 200-meter freestyle, Matt Taylor placed seventh in the A Final. Taylor came in with a time of 1:53.34, which is a national cut time, as well as a B standard time for the NCAA's. Justin Mortimer swam a 1:53.17 to take first in the B Final. His time of 1:53.17 is also a national cut time, and B standard time. Terry Silkaitis placed seventh in the B Final, and Sean McCaffrey placed second in the C Final.
Anders Bo Pederson and Bjorn Lundin placed sixth and seventh respectively in the B Final of the 100-meter butterfly. Pederson swam a 57.13, while Lundin came in with a time of 57.23. In the C Final, Lucas Peterson placed fifth, and Brian Gettelfinger placed sixth.
The 400-meter individual medley placed 2 swimmers in the A final. Diego Urreta placed fourth with a national cut time of 4:29.97. Ryan Plummer's time of 4:34.23 garnered him seventh place.
In addition to all of his accomplishments as a Gopher swimmer, Diego Urreta is tearing up the charts of the Mexican National Swim records. Thus far in the U.S, Open, Urreta has established new marks in the 200-meter backstroke, as well as the 200 and 400-meter individual medley's.
"We had some great swims today, and some ok swims, but overall it was another good day," Coach Dennis Dale commented." It was a very nice way to conclude tonight's events by taking the top two spots in the 400 medley relay "
The Gophers will continue competition in the US Open Swimming Championships tomorrow. The event will begin with prelims beginning at 9:00 a.m.
Full results can be found on the USA Swimming website at www.usaswimming.org.
Players Mentioned
