University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Swimming and Diving Completes Competition at Minnesota Challenge
2/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
"This is an very important event for our squad, especially our younger swimmers," commented Head Coach Dennis Dale. "We will take 23 swimmers and 3 divers to the Big Ten Championships. We know 15 of our swimmers, which means that we still have a lot of spots to fill. I was impressed with our younger swimmers today, some of our freshman really showed me a lot."
Leading the way today was a threesome of familiar faces in Gopher swimming. Todd Smolinski, Allen Ong, and Jeff Hackler all posted season bests in their respective events. Todd Smolinski came in with a time of 1:47.99 in the 200-yard backstroke for his season and team best time. Ong swam the 100-yard butterfly in team and season best 49.27. Ong also swam an aggressive 100-yard freestyle in 44.75. Hackler had a team and season best time of 2:00.11 in the 200-yard breaststroke.
The Maroon and Gold took the top six spots in the 200-yard freestyle. Matt Taylor won the event with a time of 1:39.63. Taylor was followed by teammates Sean McCaffrey and Kiel Ochalek.
Diego Urreta led the Gophers to the top five places in the 400-yard individual medley. Urreta placed first with a time of 4:00.60. Justin Mortimer came in with a time of 4:03.49 and took second.
In diving, John Schmidt swept both events. Schmidt received a season best score of 303.40 on the 1-meter board, and another season and team best score of 499.95 in the 3-meter competition. Ben Baumann placed second in the 1-meter competition, and Ben Herdt took second on the 3-meter board.
Competition for the Golden Gopher men will continue on February 27-March 1 in Ann Arbor, Mich. at the Big Ten Championships.
Players Mentioned
