University of Minnesota Athletics
Roberts And Lee-To Lead Gophers At Day Two Prelims
2/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Minnesota had a strong showing on the second day of preliminaries at the Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium. Minnesota advanced 15 swimmers to the evening session including five championship finalists. The total ranks second to Michigan’s 18. Jon Roberts and Colin Lee-To led Minnesota this afternoon, qualifying second and third respectively in the 100 breaststroke.
The defending conference champion Gophers are in fourth place after the first day of competition, trailing Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State. Minnesota’s swimmers posted lifetime-best times in 15 of the their 23 swims today.
3-Meter Diving
Cole Young put together two solid and consistent lists to finish 10th overall in the 3-meter competition. He scored a 342.15 in the prelims to finish eighth and advance to the consolation finals to determine the places seven through 12. Only 2.55 points separated Young from sixth place and a berth in the finals. Tyler Jepsen scored 206.90 points to finish 28th as well.
In the consoles, Young tallied a 344.85 to place fourth and 10th overall. "Having the same score in two straight lists is great for me," Young said. "I have always been a somewhat inconsistent diver early on in my career. To have a day like this really shows that the work I am putting in is paying off. Going from a contest where you wait 15 minutes between dives to just a few minutes, it's great to know that I can do the same thing in both lists."
"I came into this contest knowing that especially on 3-meter, that I would have to score somewhere in the 340 to 350 area to make finals based on last year. That is how it ended up and I was right there on the bubble. I knew what I had to do to get there."
Young's performance was even more impressive considering that he had a disappointing 23rd place showing on the 1-meter yesterday. "Yesterday was a really tough day mentally coming off not having my teammate (Drew Brown) travel with his injury and I hadn't dove that much. I fooled mysef into thinking I was ready for that contest. I couldn't focus as well as I thought I could. It was great to come back today and have what it takes to be competitive."
400 Individual Medley
The Gophers had three swimmers advance to the evening in the 400 IM. Alex Wold recorded a lifetime-best 3:50.31 to qualify sixth for the championship final. His time ranks seventh all-time at Minnesota and advanced Wold to his second career championship final.
Russ Payne clocked a time of 3:52.18 to finish 10th and advance to the consolation final. Josh Griffey also finished in a lifetime best 3:55.34 to qualify for the C Final with the 17th-best time. Nico Zebley also finished 25th in a career-best 3:58.82.
100 Butterfly
Senior Mike Woodson managed an eighth place qualifying time of 47.86 to make the consolation final. Woodson’s time ranks as the 10th-best ever at Minnesota. He will be joined by junior Anthony Portela this evening, who finished in a lifetime-best 48.58. He qualified 17th and will score for the first time in his career.
Freshman Kevin Baseheart finished 26th in a career-best 49.34 and senior Matt Engel took 28th in 49.48.
200 Freestyle
The Gophers had success in the 200 free, advancing four to the evening finals. Tyler Schmidt grabbed the sixth spot in the championship final with a time of 1:37.11. Schmidt has finished third and fourth the last two seasons in the event.
Ray Betuzzi timed a 1:37.71 to place 12th and make the consolation final while freshman Curt Carlson clocked a lifetime-best 1:37.95 to finish 15th and make the C Final. Junior Steve Miller also swam a lifetime-best to qualify 18th in 1:38.28.
Other Gophers in the 200 free included: Adam Weis (22nd, 1:38.90), Michael Richards (33rd, 1:39.70), Mike Holmes (42nd, 1:40.53) and Michael Daup (50th, 1:41.98). Richards, Holmes and Daup all swim career-best times.
100 Breaststroke
Minnesota had its best event of the Championships so far in the 100 breaststroke. Jon Roberts clocked the second-best time in school history at 53.29 to qualify second to Michigan’s Scott Spann (52.74). Roberts earned an NCAA automatic qualifying time as well. Junior Colin Lee-To also finished third with a lifetime-best time of 53.97. Roberts and Lee-To are just two of the four Gopher swimmers to ever go sub 54 seconds in the event.
Freshman Ivan Gutesa also had a strong showing, finishing in a career-best 55.08 to reach the consolation final in 12th. Senior Jason Timmer placed 16th to reach the C Final in 55.23. Sophomore Mark Solfelt swam well, clocking a career-best 55.79 to place 22nd overall.
100 Backstroke
Minnesota only sent two entrants in the 100 backstroke, but both performed well. Senior David Plummer won his heat and advanced to the championship final with the third-best time of 47.66. Ben Hesen of Indian posted the best time of 46.65. Plummer reached the championship final for the fourth straight year.
Freshman Jared White narrowly missed the championship final as well. He finished in a career-best 48.87 to qualify seventh and will have the middle lane for the consolation final.
In addition, the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay will take place this evening. The evening session begins at 7 p.m.
Players Mentioned
