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Sept. 13, 1999
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – University of Virginia fourth-year swimmer AustinRamirez (Brookfield, Wisc./Brookfield Central) swam a leg on the winning800-meter freestyle relay and also turned in a second place performance inthe 400-meter freestyle to help the United States win the first-ever Bankof America/U.S. Olympic Cup on Sunday, September 12, at Canyonview Pool onthe campus of UC-San Diego.
The United States scored 451 points in the two-day meet to easilyoutdistance Great Britain (236) and France (130) to win the inaugural Bankof America/U.S. Olympic Cup. In all, the United States men and womencombined to win 28 of 32 events with 18 one-two finishes.
Ramirez swam the third leg of the USA’s winning 800-meter freestyle relaythat clocked a time of 7:24.32, more than 16 seconds ahead of runner-upGreat Britain. Dan Phillips, Scott Tucker and Devin Howard swam the otherthree legs of the winning relay. Ramirez also garnered a second-placefinish in the 400-meter free relay as he touched in a time of 3:58.97. USAteammate Josh Davis won the 400 with a time of 3:50.32.
In the opening day of competition on Saturday, Ramirez won the 1500-meterfreestyle with a time of 15:34.31, more than eight seconds ahead of GreatBritain’s Greg Orphanides.
The U.S. Olympic Cup is the third championship meet that Ramirez competedin this summer. On August 5, Ramirez won a silver medal in the 400-meterfreestyle at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Canada. He posted a time of3:53.64 in the finals. Ramirez advanced to the finals by clocking thefastest time in the preliminaries at 3:57.02.
At the USA Swimming National Championships, held August 6-10, at theUniversity of Minnesota, Ramirez competed in three finals. His best finishwas fourth place in the 5K Open Water event. He turned in a time of 47:18in that event. Ramirez was sixth in the 400 freestyle with a time of3:55.54 and finished eighth in the 200 free with a time of 1:52.16.
Ramirez won both the 500 freestyle (4:21.33) and the 1650 freestyle(15:10.15) at the 1999 ACC Championships. He earned Honorable MentionAll-America accolades with a 10th-place finish in the 500 freestyle(4:21.62) and an 11th-place finish in the 1650 freestyle (15:05.75) at theNCAA Championships in March.