The NCAA News - News and Features

April 7, 1997

Freestyles, relays lift Auburn in I men's swimming

Auburn proved that the shortest distance between two points is a freestyle sprint.

That and dominance in the relay events propelled the Tigers to their first team title at the Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships March 27-29 at Minnesota.

Scoring 111 points in the two freestyle sprints and winning four of the five relays, the Tigers built an early lead and cruised to a convincing victory after finishing second last year.

Sparked by freshman Brett Hawke's upset victory over favored Neil Walker of Texas in the 50-yard freestyle, Auburn scored 173 points during the first day. Walker had set a meet record in the preliminaries, but Hawke touched the wall in 19.19 seconds in the final, .06 ahead of Walker.

Auburn placed five other swimmers in the event and added 51 points to its team total. The Tigers also won both relays the first day, including the 400-yard medley relay, in which they set a pool record.

Although Lars Frolander of Southern Methodist won the 100-yard freestyle (his second win of the meet), Auburn's Nick Shackell placed second, Brock Newman third, Scott Tucker fifth and Hawke sixth in compiling 60 points for the event.

Auburn had won just one relay before this year -- the 400-yard freestyle relay in 1996 -- but won all but one of this year's relay events, including a successful defense of its 400 freestyle title. In all, Auburn scored 305 of its 4961/2 total points in the five relays and two freestyle sprints.

Stanford, a three-time champion in the 1990s, was a distant second with 340 points. Tom Wilkens was the Cardinal's lone event winner with a title in the 400-yard individual medley.

Besides Frolander, John Piersma of Michigan and Jeremy Linn of Tennessee were double winners in swimming events -- Piersma in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and Linn in both breaststrokes. Linn's time in the 100-yard breaststroke was a meet record. The junior Olympian has won three breaststroke titles in two years.

Another meet record fell in the 100-yard backstroke as Walker shrugged off his defeat in the 50-yard freestyle to capture his first career win. His time of 45.25 seconds topped the previous best set by Brian Retterer of Stanford in 1995.

In diving, Miami (Florida) dominated, scoring all but five of its 197 points in the three events. Junior Tyce Routson won the platform and three-meter events and finished third in the one-meter to become the meet's top point scorer with 56 points. Teammate Rio Ramirez won the one-meter and scored 48 total points, fourth highest in the meet.

Championships results - Division I men's swimming and diving

TEAM RESULTS

1. Auburn, 4961/2; 2. Stanford, 340; 3. Georgia, 297; 4. Texas, 286; 5. Tennessee, 2351/2; 6. Southern Cal, 235; 7. Michigan, 209; 8. Miami (Fla.), 197; 9. Florida St., 160; 10. Southern Methodist, 157.

11. Arizona St., 113; 12. (tie) Minnesota and Nebraska, 109; 14. LSU, 103; 15. California, 95; 16. Arizona, 84; 17. Florida, 80; 18. Harvard, 751/2; 19. Purdue, 571/2; 20. (tie) Indiana and Virginia, 55.

22. North Caro., 45; 23. (tie) Alabama and Texas A&M, 40; 25. Ohio St., 35; 26. Kentucky, 34; 27. (tie) Kansas and Villanova, 30; 29. Syracuse, 28; 30. UC Santa Barbara, 261/2.

31. Pittsburgh, 25; 32. Brigham Young, 211/2; 33. Eastern Mich., 14; 34. Toledo, 12; 35. (tie) Fla. Atlantic and Iowa St., 11; 37. North Caro. St., 8; 38. Northwestern, 6; 39. Hawaii, 5; 40. UNLV, 4.

41. Iowa, 3; 42. (tie) New Mexico and Texas Christian, 1.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

50-yard freestyle: Final--1. Brett Hawke, Auburn, 19.19; 2. Neil Walker, Texas, 19.25; 3. Brendon Dedekind, Florida St., 19.26; 4. Francisco Sanchez, Arizona St., 19.61; 5. Jason Lezak, UC Santa Barb., 19.70; 6. Matt Busbee, Auburn, 19.82; 7. Scott Claypool, Stanford, 19.83; 8. Jerrod Kappler, Texas A&M, 19.84; Consolation--9. Brock Newman, Auburn, 19.74; 10. Brian Esway, Texas, 19.76; 11. Aaron Ciarla, Auburn, 19.81; 12. (tie) Brendan Crowley, Tennessee, and Marcelo Kingston, LSU, 19.93; 14. Felipe Delgado, Arizona St., 19.94; 15. Dan Lindstrom, Auburn, 20.12; 16. Nick Shackell, Auburn, 20.32.

100-yard freestyle: Final--1. Lars Frolander, Southern Methodist, 42.89; 2. Nick Shackell, Auburn, 43.07; 3. Brock Newman, Auburn, 43.23; 4. Brendon Dedekind, Florida St., 43.25; 5. Scott Tucker, Auburn, 43.35; 6. (tie) Brett Hawke, Auburn, and Jason Lezak, UC Santa Barbara, 43.41; 8. Dod Wales, Stanford, 43.70; Consolation--9. Adam Pine, Nebraska, 43.30; 10. Brian Esway, Texas, 43.73; 11. Scott Claypool, Stanford, 43.77; 12. Brendan Crowley, Tennessee, 44.07; 13. Felipe Delgado, Arizona St., 44.29; 14. Bela Szabados, Southern Cal, 44.64; 15. Jerrod Kappler, Texas A&M, 44.74; 16. Chris Archer, Texas, 44.80.

200-yard freestyle: Final--1. John Piersma, Michigan, 1:34.88; 2. Miro Vucetic, Syracuse, 1:35.75; 3. Scott Tucker, Auburn, 1:35.88; 4. (tie) Chris Archer, Texas, and Michael Kiedel, Harvard, 1:36.11; 6. Chris Rumley, Michigan, 1:36.34; 7. Romain Barnier, Auburn, 1:36.78; 8. John Reich, Michigan, 1:36.91; Consolation--9. Nick Shackell, Auburn, 1:36.51; 10. Bela Szabados, Southern Cal, 1:36.88; 11. Scott Jones, Stanford, 1:37.13; 12. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 1:37.39; 13. Eric Matuszak, Harvard, 1:37.41; 14. (tie) Chris Eckerman, Texas, and Dod Wales, Stanford, 1:37.47; 16. Scott Smale, Northwestern, 1:37.51.

500-yard freestyle: Final--1. John Piersma, Michigan, 4:15.79; 2. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 4:16.46; 3. Chris Rumley, Michigan, 4:18.56; 4. Bela Szabados, Southern Cal, 4:18.84; 5. Kent Johnson, Southern Cal, 4:20.27; 6. Jeff Julian, Southern Cal, 4:21.17; 7. Tyler Painter, Kansas, 4:21.22; 8. Miro Vucetic, Syracuse, 4:28.21; Consolation--9. Thomas Malchow, Michigan, 4:22.53; 10. Bill Bishop, Minnesota, 4:22.96; 11. Beau Wiebel, Georgia, 4:23.37; 12. Magnus Ohlsson, North Caro. St., 4:23.93; 13. Austin Ramirez, Virginia, 4:24.31; 14. Micah Copeland, North Caro., 4:24.50; 15. Nat Lewis, Kentucky, 4:24.94; 16. Michael Kiedel, Harvard, 4:25.41.

1,650-yard freestyle: Final--1. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 14:43.44; 2. Tyler Painter, Kansas, 15:00.41; 3. Nat Lewis, Kentucky, 15:00.73; 4. Beau Wiebel, Georgia, 15:06.61; 5. Mark Leonard, Eastern Mich., 15:07.19; 6. Michael McWha, Michigan, 15:09.66; 7. Robert Justice, Florida, 15:10.13; 8. Bill Bishop, Minnesota, 15:10.55; 9. Andrew Potts, Michigan, 15:11.76; 10. Kevin Radvany, Stanford, 15:13.03; 11. Austin Ramirez, Virginia, 15:13.31; 12. Chris Rumley, Michigan, 15:14.69; 13. Tim Martin, Harvard, 15:15.39; 14. Magnus Ohlsson, North Caro. St., 15:16.41; 15. Denis Sirringhaus, Harvard, 15:26.06; 16. Erik Jorgenson, Kansas, 15:17.24.

100-yard backstroke: Final--1. Neil Walker, Texas, 45.25 (meet record; old record 45.43, Brian Retterer, Stanford, 1995); 2. Lenny Krayzelburg, Southern Cal, 46.55; 3. Tom Tracey, Villanova, 47.57; 4. Chip Crush, Auburn, 47.85; 5. Robert Brewer, Georgia, 47.88; 6. Sabir Muhammad, Stanford, 47.92; 7. Carlos Arena, Texas, 48.17; 8. Craig Gilliam, Tennessee, 48.21; Consolation--9. Justin Thornton, Tennessee, 48.29; 10. Greg Ruminski, Indiana, 48.56; 11. Derya Buyukuncu, Michigan, 48.64; 12. Michael Bartz, Auburn, 48.70; 13. Shawn McNew, Tennessee, 48.75; 14. John Simmons, Southern Methodist, 48.99; 15. Robb Pantano, Texas A&M, 49.03; 16. Ethan Booker, Michigan, 49.05.

200-yard backstroke: Final--1. Lenny Krayzelburg, Southern Cal, 1:41.10; 2. Bart Sikora, California, 1:42.95; 3. Kris Babylon, Georgia, 1:43.74; 4. Tate Blahnik, Stanford, 1:44.04; 5. Tom Tracey, Villanova, 1:44.40; 6. Jason Webb, Virginia, 1:44.55; 7. Greg Ruminski, Indiana, 1:44.81; 8. Eithan Urbach, Auburn, 1:45.76; Consolation--9. Marko Strahija, Ohio St., 1:44.91; 10. Robert Brewer, Georgia, 1:45.00; 11. Ethan Booker, Michigan, 1:45.63; 12. Gordan Kozulj, California, 1:45.69; 13. Tom Klement, Auburn, 1:46.32; 14. Michael Bartz, Auburn, 1:46.35; 15. Carlos Arena, Texas, 1:46.76; 16. Matthew Cole, Florida, 1:48.65.

100-yard breaststroke: Final--1. Jeremy Linn, Tennessee, 52.32 (meet record; old record 52.48, Steve Lundquist, Southern Methodist, 1983); 2. Michael Norment, Georgia, 53.58; 3. Adam Jerger, Auburn, 53.75; 4. Nate Thomson, LSU, 54.10; 5. Brendon Dedekind, Florida St., 54.27; 6. Matt Buck, Georgia, 54.51; 7. Vilmos Kovacs, Purdue, 54.71; 8. Jay Schindler, Iowa St., 54.75; Consolation--9. Jarrod Marrs, LSU, 54.23; 10. William Shefchik, Brigham Young, 54.75; 11. Barry Wynn, Georgia, 54.77; 12. Kevin Kling, Ohio St., 54.99; 13. Jeff Livingston, Texas, 55.00; 14. Robert Rausch, Northwestern, 55.23; 15. Steve Bonack, North Caro., 55.32; 16. Tom Klement, Auburn, 55.94.

200-yard breaststroke: Final--1. Jeremy Linn, Tennessee, 1:55.27; 2. Nate Thomson, LSU, 1:56.31; 3. (tie) Vilmos Kovacs, Purdue, and Tom Wilkens, Stanford, 1:56.80; 5. Jarrod Marrs, LSU, 1:57.49; 6. Adam Jerger, Auburn, 1:57.92; 7. Michael Norment, Georgia, 1:58.43; 8. Barry Winn, Georgia, 1:58.68; Consolation--9. William Shefchik, Brigham Young, 1:56.82; 10. Matt Buck, Georgia, 1:57.91; 11. Lionel Moreau, Auburn, 1:58.69; 12. Peter Struglinski, Hawaii, 1:58.89; 13. Steve Bonack, North Caro., 1:59.03; 14. Jeff Weiss, North Caro., 1:59.76; 15. Robert Rausch, Northwestern, 2:00.31; 16. Jason Flint, Texas Christian, 2:00.72.

100-yard butterfly: Final--1. Lars Frolander, Southern Methodist, 46.28; 2. Adam Pine, Nebraska, 46.40; 3. Sabir Muhammad, Stanford, 46.70; 4. Martin Zielinski, Minnesota, 47.00; 5. John Hargis, Auburn, 47.01; 6. Jed Crowe, Stanford, 47.33; 7. Jesus Gonzalez, Florida, 47.40; 8. Bryan Jones, Texas, 47.63; Consolation--9. Stephen Parry, Florida St., 47.54; 10. Francisco Sanchez, Arizona St., 47.60; 11. Dan Lindstrom, Auburn, 47.71; 12. Tucker Shade, North Caro., 47.81; 13. Matthew Pierce, Stanford, 48.03; 14. Stephen Clarke, Florida, 48.35; 15. Derya Buyukuncu, Michigan, 48.67; 16. Mike Williams, Southern Cal, 48.72.

200-yard butterfly: Final--1. Stephen Parry, Florida St., 1:44.28; 2. Jeff Julian, Southern Cal, 1:44.61; 3. Thomas Malchow, Michigan, 1:44.85; 4. Shamek Pietucha, Virginia, 1:45.61; 5. Heath Edwards, Georgia, 1:45.78; 6. Matthew Pierce, Stanford, 1:45.84; 7. Casey Barrett, Southern Methodist, 1:47.25; 8. Thomas Finch, Virginia, 1:48.58; Consolation--9. Paul Latimer, Texas, 1:46.85; 10. Mauricio Cunha, LSU, 1:47.41; 11. Dominik Galic, California, 1:47.46; 12. Nelson Mora, Miami (Fla), 1:47.50; 13. Josh Ilika, Southern Cal, 1:47.52; 14. Bret Awbrey, Southern Cal, 1:47.63; 15. Yoav Meiri, Minnesota, 1:47.88; 16. Devin Howard, Texas A&M, 1:48.17.

200-yard individual medley: Final--1. Kris Babylon, Georgia, 1:45.19; 2. Scott Tucker, Auburn, 1:45.44; 3. Lionel Moreau, Auburn, 1:46.39; 4. Matt Brown, Purdue, 1:46.56; 5. Tom Wilkens, Stanford, 1:46.57; 6. Bart Sikora, California, 1:47.22; 7. Heath Edwards, Georgia, 1:48.32; 8. Glenn Counts, Stanford, 1:48.35; Consolation--9. Chris Archer, Texas, 1:47.37; 10. Shawn McNew, Tennessee, 1:47.49; 11. Paul Latimer, Texas, 1:47.91; 12. Tom Klement, Auburn, 1:48.06; 13. Casey Barrett, Southern Methodist, 1:48.52; 14. Dod Wales, Stanford, 1:49.24; 15. Greg Wriede, Harvard, 1:50.14; 16. Nolan Wood, New Mexico, 1:50.23.

400-yard individual medley: Final--1. Tom Wilkens, Stanford, 3:45.59; 2. Bart Sikora, California, 3:45.80; 3. Kris Babylon, Georgia, 3:47.14; 4. Matt Brown, Purdue, 3:47.54; 5. Beau Wiebel, Georgia, 3:48.59; 6. Heath Edwards, Georgia, 3:50.21; 7. Rob Iglinski, Indiana, 3:51.06; 8. Artur Rutowski, Fla. Atlantic, 3:51.16; Consolation--9. Matt Hall, Tennessee, 3:50.36; 10. Andrew Potts, Michigan, 3:50.45; 11. Greg Wriede, Harvard, 3:50.69; 12. Casey Barrett, Southern Methodist, 3:53.06; 13. Erik Scalise, UNLV, 3:53.48; 14. Ryan Duncan, California, 3:53.66; 15. Lionel Moreau, Auburn, 3:54.51; 16. Bret Awbrey, Southern Cal, 3:54.84.

One-meter diving: Final (17 dives)--1. Rio Ramirez, Miami (Fla.), 610.05; 2. Evan Stewart, Tennessee, 590.10; 3. Tyce Routson, Miami (Fla.), 575.10; 4. Bryan Gillooly, Miami (Fla.), 552.45; 5. Brent Roberts, Alabama, 523.10; 6. Chris Mantilla, Miami (Fla.), 517.80; 7. Daneil Bergman, Nebraska, 516.65; 8. Ali Al-Hasan, Southern Methodist, 491.70; Consolation (11 dives)--9. Paco Rivera, Kentucky, 497.85; 10. Brett Bortolussi, Ohio St., 496.10; 11. Mike Collier, Indiana, 495.55; 12. Adam Terrell, Tennessee, 487.70; 13. Koffi Kla, Auburn, 487.45; 14. Daren Guertin, LSU, 486.70; 15. Mark Naftanel, Texas A&M, 486.50; 16. (tie) Nathan Cook, Brigham Young, and Ryan Harmon, LSU, 481.20.

Three-meter diving: Final (17 dives)-- 1. Tyce Routson, Miami (Fla.), 643.10; 2. Evan Stewart, Tennessee, 632.80; 3. Rio Ramirez, Miami (Fla.), 624.00; 4. Bryan Gillooly, Miami (Fla), 584.90; 5. Mike Collier, Indiana, 583.10; 6. Chris Mantilla, Miami (Fla.), 579.05; 7. John Soulakis, Pittsburgh, 541.25, 8. Brett Bortolussi, Ohio St., 511.70; Consolation (11 dives)-- 9. Jimmy Sjodin, Arizona, 515.50; 10. Daren Guertin, LSU, 514.70; 11. Koffi Kla, Auburn, 507.10; 12. Nathan Cook, Brigham Young, 502.45; 13. Brent Roberts, Alabama, 494.90; 14. Jesus Gil, Iowa, 490.35; 15. Ali Al-Hasan, Southern Methodist, 489.20; 16. Daneil Bergman, Nebraska, 485.45.

Platform diving: Final (17 dives)-- 1. Tyce Routson, Miami (Fla.), 811.80; 2. Bryan Gillooly, Miami (Fla.), 810.70; 3. Brent Roberts, Alabama, 779.40; 4. Chris Mantilla, Miami (Fla.), 771.60; 5. Mark Naftanel, Texas A&M, 720.30; 6. John Soulakis, Pittsburgh, 714.70; 7. Rio Ramirez, Miami (Fla.), 669.00; 8. Koffi Kla, Auburn, 663.75; Consolation (11 dives)-- 9. Jimmy Sjodin, Arizona, 436.25; 10. Paco Rivera, Kentucky, 433.25; 11. Daren Guertin, LSU, 431.95; 12. Adam Terrell, Tennessee, 429.70; 13. Mike Collier, Indiana, 420.40; 14. Brett Bortolussi, Ohio St., 413.10; 15. Evan Stewart, Tennessee, 408.30; 16. Brett Wilmot, Michigan, 402.25.

200-yard freestyle relay: Final--1. Auburn (Brett Hawke, Matt Busbee, Aaron Ciarla, Nick Shackell), 1:17.54; 2. Texas, 1:17.86; 3. Stanford, 1:17.87; 4. Arizona St., 1:18.32; 5. Nebraska, 1:19.07; 6. Southern Methodist, 1:19.27; 7. Florida St., 1:19.44; 8. Southern Cal, 1:20.49; Consolation--9. Georgia, 1:19.79; 10. Harvard, 1:19.88; 11. Florida, 1:20.17; 12. Minnesota, 1:20.18; 13. Toledo, 1:20.20; 14. LSU, 1:20.41; 15. California, 1:20.78; 16. Tennessee, 1:20.82.

400-yard freestyle relay: Final--1. Auburn (Brett Hawke, Scott Tucker, Brock Newman, Nick Shackell), 2:51.23; 2. Stanford, 2:53.67; 3. Arizona St., 2:54.32; 4. Texas, 2:54.87; 5. Tennessee, 2:55.87; 6. Southern Methodist, 2:56.06; 7. Nebraska, 2:56.36; 8. Georgia, 3:01.22; Consolation--9. Southern Cal, 2:57.00; 10. Michigan, 2:57.34; 11. Florida St., 2:57.42; 12. Minnesota, 2:57.55; 13. North Caro., 2:58.00; 14. California, 2:58.02; 15. Toledo, 2:58.95; 16. Arizona, 2:59.94.

800-yard freestyle relay: Final--1. Michigan (Thomas Malchow, Chris Rumley, John Reich, John Piersma), 6:23.51; 2. Auburn, 6:25.73; 3. Texas, 6:27.25; 4. Stanford, 6:28.45; 5. Harvard, 6:28.70; 6. Southern Cal, 6:30.29; 7. Southern Methodist, 6:31.17; 8. Arizona St., 6:32.23; 9. California, 6:32.29; 10. Minnesota, 6:33.72; 11. Florida, 6:35.78; 12. North Caro., 6:35.97; 13. Tennessee, 6:36.17; 14. Alabama, 6:36.96; 15. Nebraska, 6:38.72; 16. Florida St., 6:40.13.

200-yard medley relay: Final--1. Auburn (Michael Bartz, Adam Jerger, John Hargis, Brett Hawke) 1:25.40 (meet record; old record 1:25.85, Tennessee, 1996); 2. Texas, 1:25.88; 3. Tennessee, 1:26.08; 4. Stanford, 1:26.63; 5. Minnesota, 1:27.17; 6. Southern Cal, 1:28.41; 7. Florida St., 1:30.07; Nebraska, disqualified; Consolation--9. Georgia, 1:28.51; 10. LSU, 1:29.34; 11. Arizona, 1:29.41; 12. Florida, 1:29.67; 13. Texas A&M, 1:29.95; 14. California, 1:29.97; 15. Southern Methodist, 1:30.11; 16. North Caro., 1:30.17.

400-yard medley relay: Final--1. Auburn (Michael Bartz, Adam Jerger, John Hargis, Brock Newman), 3:08.96; 2. Texas, 3:09.53; 3. Stanford, 3:10.65; 4. Tennessee, 3:10.79; 5. Southern Cal, 3:11.68; 6. Georgia, 3:12.71; 7. Florida St., 3:15.92; Southern Methodist, disqualified; Consolation--9. Florida, 3:14.80; 10. Nebraska, 3:14.82; 11. Minnesota, 3:15.25; 12. Arizona, 3:16.76; 13. North Caro., 3:16.78; 14. Virginia, 3:16.84; LSU and Texas A&M, disqualified.