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March 26, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia men’s and women’s swimming programs will be represented by eight student-athletes at the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships which will be held March 27 through April 1 at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas. The six men competing in the Phillips 66 National Championships are first-year Luke Anderson (Charlottesville, Va./Bolles School), second-year Dan DeMarco (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South), fourth-year Jamie Grimes (Olney, Md./Sherwood), first-year Gary Marshall (Bartlesville, Okla./Bartlesville), first-year Ian Prichard (Ventura, Calif./Buena), and first-year Luke Wagner (Greenwood, Colo./Regis Jesuit). The two women’s swimmers representing Virginia are first-year Amy Baly (Atlanta, Ga./Marist School) and second-year Cara Lane (Charlotte, N.C./Providence). In addition, two UVa volunteer assistant swimming coaches, Doak Finch and Ed Moses, will compete in the meet.
All six UVa men’s swimmers who are competing in the Phillips 66 National Meet earned All-America honors at the 2001 NCAA Championships (March 22-24). Wagner and Marshall both earned first-team All-America honors with their fifth and seventh place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. Wagner posted a time of 1:42.67 in the finals of the 200 back to set a school record in the event for the second time in the same day. Wagner broke Jason Webb’s mark of 1:43.98 set in 1997 with his preliminary time of 1:43.17. Wagner swam on three of Virginia’s five honorable mention All-America relay teams. He swam the backstroke leg of UVa’s 400-yard medley (12th – 3:15.56) and 200-yard medley (16th – 1:30.57) relays, and swam the third leg of the Cavaliers’ 800-yard free relay (12th – 6:33.46). Marshall clocked a time of 1:56.88 to finish seventh in the 200 breast and earn first-team All-America honors. He touched in a personal-best time of 1:55.78 in the prelims. Marshall also swam the breaststroke leg on UVa’s honorable mention All-America 200 and 400-yard medley relays.
Prichard, DeMarco and Grimes captured honorable mention All-America honors in the 1650-yard freestyle. Prichard, the ACC Meet Most Valuable Swimmer, led the way with a ninth-place finish in 14:57.70, while DeMarco was right behind Prichard in 10th place with a career-best time of 14:59.62. Grimes posted a time of 15:28.35 to take 15th place and round out UVa’s All-Americans in the 1650 free. Prichard also earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 200-yard freestyle (15th – 1:37.38) and 500-yard free (11th – 4:19.11). He was also a member of Virginia’s honorable mention All-America 800-yard free relay.
Anderson earned honorable mention All-America honors as a member of the Cavaliers’ 200-yard freestyle (16th – 1:2.08) and 400-yard freestyle (14th – 2:56.68) relays. He also joined Wagner and Prichard in the 800-yard free relay for a third All-America honor.
Lane was a three-time first-team All-American for Virginia at the 2001 Women’s NCAA Championships. She won the NCAA title in 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:53.86, nearly 10 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. It marked Lane’s second NCAA title as she won the 1500-meter freestyle at the 2000 NCAAs. She was also third in the 500-yard freestyle (4:39.61) and eighth in the 200-yard butterfly (2:02.14). Lane was also an honorable mention All-American as a member of UVa’s 11th place 800-yard freestyle relay (7:18.07). Baly garnered honorable mention All-America accolades in the 400-yard individual medley and 1650-yard freestyle. She was 10th in the 400 I.M. with a time of 4:13.69 and 13th in the 1650 free (16:26.15).
The Virginia men’s team finished 13th with 82 points in the NCAA Championships held March 22-24 in College Station, Texas. The 13th place finish is its second-best performance at the NCAAs, only surpassed by the team’s 12th place showing in 2000. UVa also had an outstanding showing at the Women’s NCAA Championships held March 15-17 in East Meadow, N.Y. Virginia finished 12th with 92 points at the NCAAs, marking its fifth best showing all-time and the third-consecutive year the Cavaliers have finished in the top 12 at the NCAAs.