University of Minnesota Athletics
MSD: Gophers Cruise Past Iowa 224-66
10/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
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The 11th-ranked University of Minnesota men's swimming and diving team won 15 of 16 events this evening en route to a 224-66 victory over Iowa this evening in Iowa City, Iowa. Senior All-American Adam Mitchell led the Gophers in the season opening victory by winning three individual events while three other Gophers won two events apiece.
Mitchell opened the night with a dominating win in the 200 butterfly. Mitchell touched the wall in 1:50.64, easily beating teammate Adam Weis who finished second in 1:53.42. Evan Bernier (1:55.17) and Zach Wood (1:55.20) finished third and fourth. Later in the evening, Mitchell again coasted to victory in the 200 breaststroke. He clocked a time of 2:04.85 to beat Iowa's Dragos Agache who touched in 2:07.28. Three events later, Mitchell hit the blocks again and won the 200 individual medley where the nearest competitor was over four seconds behind. Mitchell clocked a 1:50.86 while Russ Payne was second in 1:55.23.
Senior All-American Travis Beckerle picked up two wins on the night. He won the 200 freestyle in 1:41.54, touching out teammates Igor Cerensek (1:42.36) and Tyler Schmidt (1:42.44). Later, Beckerle claimed a five-second win in the 500 freestyle. He clocked a time of 4:31.13 while Wood was second in 4:36.12.
Also winning two events was sophomore All-American David Plummer. He won the 100 and 200 backstrokes, events that the Gophers crushed the Hawkeyes. Plummer led a 1-2-3-4 finish for Minnesota in both events. In the 200, he finished in 1:51.02, followed by Payne (1:51.37), Michael Woodson (1:52.28) and Dan Berve (1:56.50). In the 100, Plummer posted a winning time of 50.35, followed by Berve (51.04), Woodson (51.45) and Payne (52.46).
Junior All-American Mario Delac claimed wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle where the Gophers went 1-2-3-4 in each event again. Delac won the 50 in a time of 20.98, followed by Ales Volcansek in 21.15 and Cerensek in 21.16. Delac touched first in the 100 in a time of 45.12 while Cerensek was second in 46.50 and Bernier was third in 46.84.
The Gophers dominating the diving competition this evening finishing 1-2-3 on both boards. Junior Shaun Kennedy won the 1-meter event with a score of 286.73, followed by Cole Young (283.65) and John Schmidt (279.38). On the 3-meter, Schmidt posted an impressive score of 314.03 to easily best Kennedy (291.90) and Joe Skeate (274.20).
Minnesota's other event wins both came from freshmen. Colin Lee-To won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 57.64, touching out Agache (57.75). In the 100 butterfly, Bernier won in 50.76, followed by Berve (51.20) and Matt Engel (51.21).
The Gophers dominated the relay events as well. In the night's first event, the 200 medley relay, Minnesota put together the top three finishes, led by the team of Berve, Lee-To, Mitchell and Delac who won with a time of 1:31.44. The results were identical in the 400 freestyle relay to end the night. The top team of Woodson, Delac, Bernier and Cerensek cruised to a win in 3:01.64.
Minnesota returns to the pool on Saturday, October 29 when it faces ninth-ranked Indiana for a 1 p.m. meet at University Aquatic Center.
Players Mentioned
