The NCAA News - News and Features

March 24, 1997

Division I

Stanford hoping to find way back to winner's circle after two-year absence

Event: 1997 Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Overview: Stanford looks to regain the throne it held from 1992 through 1994 behind the junior trio of Sabir Muhammad, Tom Wilkens and Scott Claypool. Muhammad and Claypool have five relay titles among them, and Wilkens was named the most outstanding performer at the 1996 U.S. Senior Nationals. Stanford has finished no worse than fourth at this event in each of the past 15 years, winning six times ... Chasing the Cardinal will be defending champion Texas, with 1997 Big Twelve Conference swimmer of the meet Neil Walker. Walker, a top-four finisher in three events last year, won both backstrokes and the 50-yard freestyle at this year's league championships and is considered one of the top freestyle sprinters in the land. The Longhorns also have Chris Archer, who won two Big Twelve titles, and freshman Bryan Jones, who figures to factor in the sprints and the butterfly ... Auburn prepared for nationals by winning its third Southeastern Conference title in four years. Scott Tucker, the meet's overall point leader, won the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley, and John Hargis won the 100-yard butterfly in an SEC-record 46.40. Auburn's 400-yard medley and freestyle relay teams also set conference records ... Michigan features John Piersma, named Big Ten Conference swimmer of the year, and Derya Buyukuncu, who won both backstrokes at the Big Ten meet for the third consecutive year ... Another contender is Tennessee, with Olympian Jeremy Linn, who set American, U.S. Open and SEC marks in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes and was named the league's swimmer of the year.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 270. All qualifiers who have met the "A" time standard will be admitted in the meet; those who have met the "B" time standard will be considered until the event is filled. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

Dates and site: The championships will be March 27-29 at Minnesota.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 5199 for the list of qualifiers, 5200 for the first day's results, 5201 for the second day's results and 5202 for the final day's results. Individual and team results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championships results will be published in the April 7 issue of The NCAA News.

Television coverage: ESPN will televise the championships on a delayed basis at 12:30 a.m. (Eastern time) April 4.