University of Minnesota Athletics
Richards Leads Gophers On First Day Of Big Tens
2/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The defending Big Ten champion Minnesota men’s swimming and diving team began their title defense this afternoon with the first day of preliminaries at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium. Minnesota advanced 10 total swimmers to the evening session, led by freshman Michael Richards, who posted the second-fastest time in school history in the 50 freestyle to qualify third for the championship final.
This evening’s finals include the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 1-meter diving and 400 medley relay. The session begins at 7 p.m.
Overall, the Gophers had 23 swimming performances this afternoon and 17 of them were career-bests. Minnesota's 10 evening session swimmers ranks second behind Michigan's 17. The Wolverines also led with eight championship finalists.
500 Freestyle
Michigan completely dominated the 500 freestyle in the prelims, sending three to the championship final and eight overall to the night session. The Gophers had some strong performances as well. Mike Holmes dropped over two seconds off his career-best to finish ninth in 4:22.37. His time is the ninth-best in school history. He placed 11th in the event last year. “The swim felt fast but legs kind of died a bit at the end,” Holmes said. “There are some things that I want to fix this evening. I am glad that I could do the best I could for the team.”
Adam Weis posted a career-best time by almost three seconds to edge into the C final in 18th with a time of 4:25.95. Michael Daup timed a career-best 4:29.86 to finish 31st. The Gophers suffered a setback when Ray Betuzzi, who finished third in the event last year, finished 20th in 4:26.72. Nico Zebley also placed 51st in 4:33.82.
200 Individual Medley
Four Gophers made the evening session in the 200 individual medley. Jon Roberts led the way in 11th with a time of 1:47.92 while Russ Payne is 12th with a time of 1:47.93. Although they reached the B Final, they were unable to hold their seed placings of third and first respectively. David Plummer posted a career-best time of 1:48.12 to qualify 14th but the best performance in the event came from sophomore Mark Solfelt. He knocked over four seconds off his seed time to qualify 16th in 1:48.26.
Alex Wold also clocked a lifetime-best 1:49.04 that was good for 20th place. Josh Griffey posted a career-best 1:49.94 to finish 26th. Anthony Portela finished 33rd in a career-best 1:50.39 as well. Ivan Gutesa rounded out the Gopher finishers in 54th with a time of 1:53.71.
50 Freestyle
In the fastest 50 freestyle event in Big Ten history, Michael Richards made perhaps the most eye-opening performance. He posted a time of 19.72, the second-fastest in school history. He also became the 12th-fastest performer in Big Ten history. He won his heat and qualified third for the championship final this evening.
“I figured if I wanted to go fast, I had to get out ahead. I didn’t want to eat water coming off the wall. I had a fast start and then after the turn I just hung on,” Richards said. “I thought I had probably gone a 20 or so but I when I looked and saw a 19.72, I was pretty surprised. Usually, I like to go my fastest time in the finals but if it happened in the prelims, so be it. I just wanted to score as many points as possible for the team.”
Minnesota had 10 swimmers in the 50 free and nine of them posted lifetime-best times. In addition to Richards’ swim, Colin Lee-To became the 10th Gopher to ever go under 20 seconds in the event just two heats earlier, finishing in 19.98. He qualified ninth for this evening while Tyler Schmidt tied a career-best with a time of 20.05 that put him 11th for the consolation final. Jason Timmer crushed his career-best of 20.54 with a time of 20.09 that qualified him 13th.
Other Gophers in the event included Mike Woodson (20th, 20.25), Steve Miller (20.33, 23rd), Curt Carlson (20.34, 24th), Matt Engel (20.46, 28th), Kevin Baseheart (20.99, 42nd) and Jared White (21.01, 44th).
1-Meter Diving
Minnesota's duo of Cole Young and Tyler Jepsen did not reach the evening session. Young finished 23rd with a total of 234.95 and Jepsen placed 27th with 210.30 points. The diving corps suffered a setback on Monday when freshman diver Drew Brown was injured on the final day of practice and was unable to make the trip to the Big Ten Championships. Jepsen stepped in his absence but the Gophers lost a potential big point scorer with the injury.
Players Mentioned
