University of Minnesota Athletics
Carlson Leads Gophers Past Hawaii
1/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Junior Curt Carlson won four events as the No. 8 Minnesota men's swimming team defeated Hawaii 142-111 Sunday in Honolulu. Junior Ivan Gutesa also won three times as Minnesota won 13 of 14 events. The competition was a culmination of the Gophers' annual winter training trip on Oahu.
Carlson swept the sprint freestyle events, taking the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles. He claimed his first win in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:39.99, ahead of Hawaii's Mark Higley (1:41.00). Taking third in his first appearance as a Gopher was freshman Hrvoje Capan in 1:41.78. Later, Carlson won the 100 free in 44.87 ahead of Higley's time of 45.67. In the 50, Carlson touched first in 20.45 while Michael Richards placed third in 20.64.
To end the meet, Carlson helped the 200 freestyle relay team of Richards, Kevin Baseheart and Zach Bolin finish first in 1:22.51.
Gutesa swept the breaststroke events for the Gophers, winning both events handily. In the 100 breast, Gutesa finished in 56.31, ahead of freshman Josh Hall's effort of 57.84. Gutesa and Hall placed 1-2 in the 200 as well with Gutesa touching in 2:03.26 and Hall in 2:07.27. Gutesa also helped the 200 medley relay team start the meet with a victory in a time of 1:31.40. Nadav Kochavi, Baseheart and Richards were also on the winning relay team.
Senior Alex Wold picked up two individual victories as well. He won the 200 butterfly in 1:498.98, finishing just ahead of Baseheart (1:50.37). Wold later won the 200 individual medley in 1:53.27. Mark Solfelt was second in 1:56.10.
Senior Nico Zebley cruised to a victory in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:26.72 with freshman Matt Benecki placing second in 9:33.00. In the 100 backstroke, Kochavi took first place with a time of 51.06 with Solfelt finishing third in 53.36. Freshman Michael McBroom easily claimed the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:34.90, ahead of Zebley's second-place effort of 4:37.64. Baseheart won the 100 butterfly with a time of 49.68 while Kochavi was second in 49.89.
Hawaii's Lazar Bogdanovski won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:51.48 while freshman Sean Nesheim was Minnesota's top finisher in second in 1:54.86.
The Gophers travel to Missouri on Saturday, January 16.
Players Mentioned
