Virginia Swimming Teams Win Five Events During Final Day Of Texas A&M Invitational
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Nov. 23, 2003
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams combined to win five events during the third day of competition Sunday (November 23) at the Texas A&M Fall Invitational, which was held at the Student Rec Center Natatorium. The 11th-ranked UVa men won four events and finished third, while the 17th-ranked Cavalier women won one event and came in sixth overall.
The Cavaliers scored 1,930.5 points to finish third in the four-team men’s competition. Host and 13th-ranked Texas A&M won the men’s competition with 2,433 points, while 23rd-ranked Florida State was second with 2,175.5 points. SMU was fourth with 1,208 points.
The UVa women totaled 955 points in 21 events and placed sixth. Eleventh-ranked UCLA won the women’s meet with 2,077 points, while 17th-ranked Texas A&M was second with 1,570.5. With 1,450 points, eighth-ranked SMU was third, followed by 20th-ranked Florida State in fourth place with 1,337.5 points and Purdue in fifth (1,233 points). UVa was sixth with 955 points, while 19th-ranked Notre Dame finished seventh with 599 points.
The Virginia men won four events during Sunday’s competition to increase its three-day meet total to 10. Second-year Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Academy) got the Cavaliers off to a good start by winning the 1500-meter freestyle with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 15:02.38. It was Crippen’s third individual event victory of the meet, and fourth title overall. Fourth-year Ian Prichard (Ventura, Calif./Buena) placed third in the 1500 free with a time of 15:26.20, while first-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) finished right behind Prichard in fourth place with a time of 15:31.33. First-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day) was seventh in the 1500 in 16:04.94.
In the 200-meter backstroke, fourth-year Luke Wagner (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit) touched first in a time of 1:57.19. Third-year Bo Greenwood (Manakin, Va./Goochland) was third (2:00.28). First-year Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split) earned a sweep in the breaststroke events as he clocked a time of 2:12.13 to win the 200-meter breaststroke. Fourth-year Andrew Pickett (Satellite Beach, Fla./Satellite) was seventh in the 200 breast (2:21.96). Third-year Michael Raab (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) was the second Cavalier to sweep events as he won both butterflies. On Sunday, Raab won the 200-meter butterfly with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:56.68. Greenwood was runner-up in the 200 fly with a time of 2:02.55 and third-year Chris Cooper (Sparta, N.J./Sparta) placed eighth (2:05.20).
Fourth-year Jon Haag (Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) tied for fourth place in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 51.17. In platform diving, second-year Eric Kelley (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Christian School) was fourth with a score of 343.35. In the 400-meter freestyle relay, the foursome of fourth-year Adam Kerpelman (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s School), Haag, Wagner and Hirniak combined for a third-place time of 3:24.59.
In the women’s competition, first-year Kimi Kelly (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Ursuline School) won the 1500-meter freestyle with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 16:10.66. Second-year Rachael Burke (Bethesda, Md./Good Counsel) and first-year Rory Schmidt (Phoenix, Ariz./Arcadia) were third and fourth in the 1500 free with times of 16:25.56 and 16:28.97, respectively. In the 200-meter backstroke, second-year Corey Berg (Hyde Park, N.Y./F.D. Roosevelt) finished third with a time of 2:13.14. UVa had a pair of finalists in the 200-meter breaststroke. First-year Jenny Steiner (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) touched in 2:34.46 to finish fourth, while second-year Elaine Bennett (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) was fifth in 2:34.51.