University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Purdue and Wisconsin
1/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The No. 7 Minnesota men's swimming and diving team completed two-day victories over No. 19 Purdue 206-147 and Wisconsin 243-110 this afternoon in Madison, Wis. The Gophers won five events on Saturday and 11 in the two-day meet. Evan Bernier, Russ Payne and Ray Betuzzi posted individual wins for Minnesota. The Gophers improved to 5-0 in dual meet action.
The Gophers completed a sweep of the meet's relays, taking the 200 and 400 freestyle relays on Saturday. The 200 freestyle relay team of Colin Lee-To, Mike Woodson, Dan Berve and Ales Volcansek won in a time of 1:22.87, besting Wisconsin's time of 1:23.39. In the meet's final event, the 400 freestyle relay team of Woodson, Tyler Schmidt, Bernier and Betuzzi clocked a winning time of 3:02.16, just ahead of Wisconsin's 3:02.63.
Minnesota had a strong showing in the first individual event of the day as Payne and Alex Wold finished 1-2 in the 400 individual medley. Payne won in a time of 3:59.22 while Wold was just .02 seconds behind in 3:59.24. Bernier posted a time of 45.89 to win the 100 freestyle. Schmidt was Minnesota's next finisher in sixth with a time of 46.42.
Purdue's Romain Maire touched out David Plummer in the 200 backstroke, clocking a time of 1:49.14. Plummer finished in 1:49.43 while Payne posted a sixth place finish in 1:52.52. Bernier came close to another victory in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall third in 49.79. The closely contested event was won by Purdue's Sam Wilcher in 49.66.
Betuzzi cruised to a victory in the 500 freestyle with a winning time of 4:29.26. Wisconsin's Tom Molzahn was a distant second in 4:34.41 while Zach Wood finished fourth for the Gophers in 4:35.65. Drew Knoechel led the Gophers in the 200 breaststroke, placing second in 2:05.77. Lee-To finished fifth in 2:06.88.
Shaun Kennedy and Cole Young finished 3-4 in three-meter diving competition. Kennedy tallied a score of 294.05 while Young posted a score of 289.85.
The Gophers return to action next weekend with the Minnesota Challenge at University Aquatic Center.
Players Mentioned
