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March 28, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia second-year Ed Moses (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock) set twoworld records in winning a pair of NCAA titles at the 2000 NCAA Division ISwimming and Diving Championships, held March 16-19 at the UniversityAquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
As a team, Virginia finished a school-record 12th with 131 points.The Cavaliers’ performance topped their 14th-place finish at the 1999 NCAAChampionships. Texas won the 2000 NCAAs with 538 points, while Auburn wassecond with 385. UVa had a total of six swimmers earn All-America honors.Virginia had swimmers earn All-America honors in six individual events,including five first-team All-Americans. The Cavaliers also earnedAll-America honors in three relays, including first-team status in the400-meter medley relay.
Fourth-years Austin Ramirez (Brookfield, Wisc./Brookfield Central)and Doak Finch (Southern Pines, N.C./O’Neal) also made Virginia swimminghistory as they conclude their careers as 11-time All-Americans, while is aschool record for the men’s swimming program. Ramirez was a three-timeAll-American at the 2000 NCAAs, while Finch earned All-America honors fivetimes at the meet to set a single meet UVa record.
Moses turned in brilliant performances in winning the 100 and200-meter breaststroke events in world record fashion. Moses was selectedas the Swimmer of the Championship for his outstanding swims. In the 100breaststroke on Friday (March 24), Moses set a short course (25-meter pool)world record in the preliminaries with a time of 58.05. Moses’ split of26.96 in the first 50 meters of the 100 breast established American andU.S. Open records. He then shattered his own world record in the 100breaststroke in the finals the same evening with a time of 57.66. Mosesshaved 39 hundredths of a second of his first world record and a total of85 hundredths of a second off the previous world record of 58.51 set byRussia’s Roman Sloudnov at the Short Course World Championships in Athenson March 17. In addition to the world record in the 100 breast, Moses nowalso holds the American and U.S. records in both the 100 and 50-meterbreaststroke. In the 100 breast, Moses broke the former American recordheld by Jeremy Linn (59.45). The old U.S. Open record was 58.79 by FreddeBurghgraeve of Belgium. The former American and U.S. Open 50-meter shortcourse breaststroke records were held by Linn with a time of 27.11.
On Saturday (March 25), Moses set his third world record in two days bydestroying the short course record in the 200-meter breaststroke with atime of 2:06.40. He broke Sloudnov’s world record of 2:07.59set a weekearlier, by an astonishing 1.19 seconds. In addition to breaking the worldrecord, Moses set new American and U.S. Open records. In the prelims ofthe 200 breast, Moses swam a time of 2:08.07 to set those records, beforelowering them even further in the finals. Moses broke Eric Wunderlich’sAmerican record of 2:08.49 set in 1993 and Tom Wilkens’ 1998 U.S. Openrecord of 2:10.76 with his performance.
With his NCAA titles, Moses became just the second UVa male swimmerto become a NCAA Champion. Shamek Pietucha, who won the 200 butterfly in1999, is the first Cavalier to win a NCAA swimming title.
Ramirez earned first-team All-America honors by placing eighth inthe 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3:47.76. He finished 13th in the1500-meter freestyle at 15:12.20 for honorable mention accolades and earnedhis third All-America honor of the meet and 11th of his career as a memberof UVa’s 800-meter freestyle relay.
Finch garnered All-America honors a school record five times at the2000 NCAAs and is now an 11-time All-American. He posted a time of 1:56.50to place fourth in the 200-meter butterfly for first-team honors and was10th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.15. Finch swam on threeCavalier All-America relays as well. He was also 36th in the prelims ofthe 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:02.33.
Third-year Jamie Grimes (Olney, Md./Sherwood) became a first-teamAll-American when he finished sixth in the 1500-meter freestyle with a timeof 14:57.01. He was also 27th in the prelims of the 400-meterfreestyle with a time of 3:50.96.
The Cavaliers’ 400-meter medley relay team finished fourth to gainfirst-team All-America honors. The fourth-place finish is the highest everby a UVa relay team at the NCAAs. Virginia posted a time of 3:33.47 withsecond-year Chris Mousetis (Newport News, Va./Woodside), Moses, Finch andthird-year Troy Johnson (St. George, Utah/Dixie) swimming legs on therelay. The same foursome tied for 13th place in the 200-meter medley relaywith a time of 1:38.83. UVa also earned All-America honors in the800-meter freestyle relay by finishing 15th with a time of 7:21.47.Johnson, Mousetis, Finch and Ramirez combined to swim the relay.
First-year Dan DeMarco (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South) placed18th in the 1500-meter freestyle with a time of 15:17.92.
Virginia also had several swimmers compete in prelims who did notadvance to finals.
Johnson tied for 45th with a time of 50.07 in the preliminaries ofthe 100-meter freestyle and was 49th in the 50-meter freestyle prelims in22.85.
Mousetis tied for 34th in the prelims of the 200 individual medleywith a time of 2:02.29. He was 29th in both the 100 and 200 backstrokeevents with times of 56.14 and 2:02.40, respectively.
In the prelims of the 100-meter butterfly, first-year Evan Taylor(Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah) was 27th with a time of 54.36 and in the 200 flyhe was 24th in 1:59.40. In the 200 IM, Taylor placed 44th with a time of2:03.50.