Virginia's Mellors And Rogulj Capture First Team All-America Honors At Men's NCAA Swimming Championships
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March 25, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – University of Virginia men’s swimmers Pat Mellors (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) and Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/Split) earned first-team All-America honors Friday (March 25) during the second of three days of competition at the 2005 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. The national championship is being held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. The Cavaliers stand in 13th place with 65 points.
After 14 of 21 events, Virginia has scored 65 points and stands in 13th place. Auburn leads the NCAA Championships with 338 points, while Stanford is second with 300 points. Arizona is third with 292 points, followed by California (264) and Florida (202).
In the 400 individual medley, Mellors, a first-year, swam to a fifth-place finish to garner first-team All-America honors. Mellors, who was an honorable mention All-American in the 200 I.M. with a 10th-place performance Thursday, clocked a time of 3:45.57 in the championship final of the 400 I.M. He was third in the prelims with a time of 3:45.81. Fourth-year Bo Greenwood (Manakin, Va./Goochland) and third-year Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Academy) captured honorable mention All-America honors with 10th and 12th place finishes, respectively, in the 400 I.M. Greenwood touched in 3:48.00, while Crippen posted a time of 3:49.95. Greenwood was ninth in the preliminaries (3:48.89) and Crippen was 11th (3:49.19).
Rogulj, a second-year, grabbed sixth place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 53.52 to garner first-team All-America honors for the first time in his career. His time of 53.52 is the second fastest in school history. Rogulj was seventh in the prelims with a time of 53.74.
The Cavaliers closed out the second day of competition by finishing 13th in the 800 freestyle relay to register honorable mention All-America honors. Fourth-year Luke Anderson (Charlottesville, Va./Bolles School), second-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day), Crippen and second-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) combined to swim a time of 6:28.81, the third fastest time in school history.
Virginia had several swimmers compete in the prelims that did not advance to the evening session. UVa just missed a place in the consolation finals in the 200 medley relay by finishing 17th in the prelims. First-year Bryan Stahl (Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands), Rogulj, fourth-year Michael Raab (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson), and Anderson recorded a time of 1:28.69. Raab was also 20th in the prelims of the 100 butterfly in a time of 47.61.
In the 200 freestyle, second-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day) touched in 1:37.81 to finish 34th, while second-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) was 40th with a time of 1:39.45.
The 2005 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships concludes Saturday (March 27). Prelims begin at 1:00 p.m. and finals commence at 8:00 p.m.