Virginia Swimmers Earn Honorable Mention All-America Honors In Three Events During Second Day Of Men's NCAA Championships
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March 26, 2004
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – University of Virginia third-year Bo Greenwood (Manakin, Va./Goochland) and second-year Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Academy) captured honorable mention All-America accolades in the 400-meter individual medley Friday (March 26) at the 2004 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships which are being held at the Nassau County Aquatics Center. Crippen also anchored UVa’s 800-meter freestyle relay that finished 15th to earn another honorable mention All-America certificate.
After 14 of 21 events, UVa has scored 48.5 points and stands in 19th place. The Cavaliers are only 10.5 points out of 15th place (Indiana is 15th with 59 points). Auburn holds a commanding lead in the NCAA Championships with 435 points. Stanford is second with 248.5 points and holds a slight lead over Texas (246). Arizona and Michigan round out the top five with 225 and 197 points, respectively.
In the 800-meter freestyle relay, the foursome of first-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day), fourth-year Adam Kerpelman (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s School), fourth-year Ian Prichard (Ventura, Calif./Buena) and Crippen clocked a time of 7:17.45 to claim 15th place in the relay.
In the 400-meter individual medley, Greenwood finished 10th with a time of 4:13.64, while Crippen was right behind Greenwood in 11th place in 4:14.21 to garner honorable mention All-America honors. Greenwood and Crippen, who posted the seventh and eighth fastest times of the evening session, advanced to the consolation final by placing 14th and 11th with times of 4:15.19 and 4:14.37, respectively, in the morning preliminaries.
First-year Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split) tied for 14th place with Georgia’s Kyle Salyards in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:00.82. It marked the first individual honorable mention All-America certificate for Rogulj. He advanced to the consolation finals by finishing 10th in the prelims with a time of 1:00.44.
The Cavaliers also had several swimmers compete in the morning prelims who did not advance to the evening session. In addition to the 100 breaststroke, Rogulj swam the breast leg on the Cavaliers’ 200-meter medley relay that placed 18th and missed qualifying for the consolation finals by half of a second. Fourth-year Luke Wagner (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit), third-year Michael Raab (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson), and Kerpelman teamed up with Rogulj to register a time of 1:39.47 and finish 18th.
Raab, who was seeded 30th in the 100-meter butterfly, swam a time of 53.58 to finish 22nd. In the 100-meter backstroke, Wagner finished 22nd in a time of 53.90. Prichard clocked a time of 1:48.32 in the 200-meter freestyle, which put him in 25th place. First-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) and Hirniak also swam the 200-meter free. Millen finished 39th with a time of 1:49.45, and Hirniak was 49th (1:50.24).
The third and final preliminary session of the 2004 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships begins Saturday at noon. Saturday’s finals events begin at 7:00 p.m.