University of Minnesota Athletics
MSD: Gophers' 400 Freestyle Relay Highlights Final Preliminaries Session
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The 400 free relay team of Mario Delac, Terry Silkaitis, Adam Mitchell and Igor Cerensek touched the wall in 2:54.18 to post the seventh-best time. Silkaitis posted the best split time of the group at 43.22. California takes the best time into this evening at 2:51.73. Minnesota clinched All-America honors for all five of its relays for first time since 2002 and the fifth time ever.
Minnesota qualified two swimmers to the 200 backstroke consolation final this evening. Adam Mitchell clocked a career- best 1:43.72 to finish 11th while freshman David Plummer grabbed the last spot in the consolation final in 1:44.84. Mitchell secured All-America honors for all three of his individual events.
The Gophers had a disappointing afternoon in the 100 freestyle. All five of their swimmers missed the evening session. Igor Cerensek came the closest, posting a 43.66 to finish 19th. Mario Delac was 20th in 43.75 and Terry Silkaitis was 21st in 43.83. The event was extremely quick in the prelims. It took a 43.43 to reach the consolation finals and a 42.75 for the championship final.
Neil Osten also finished 30th in a time of 44.27 and Ales Volcansek placed 45th in 45.09.
The Gophers have two competitors in the field for the 1650 freestyle. Travis Beckerle will swim in the fourth heat of the event at 5:39 p.m. Justin Mortimer will take the blocks in the championship final heat that will be competed at the beginning of the finals session at 7 p.m.
In the 200 breaststroke, Vladislav Polyakov of Alabama posted the top time of the prelims in 1:55.35. The 200 butterfly was led by Daniel Cruz of Kentucky and Davis Tarwater of Michigan, who tied with the top prelim time at 1:43.30. The Gophers did not have a competitor in either event.
The 2005 NCAA Championships conclude this evening at 7 p.m. The meet will be aired on ESPN2 on April 1 at 1:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
