Virginia Men's Swimming And Diving Team Splits Dual Meets With Tennessee And Princeton
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Jan. 14, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 13th-ranked Virginia men’s swimming and diving team split a pair of dual meets with Princeton and Tennessee Saturday (Jan. 14) at the UVa Aquatic and Fitness Center. The Cavaliers registered a 119-91 victory over Princeton, but fell to the 10th-ranked Vols 135-108. The loss to Tennessee snapped UVa’s two-meet winning streak in the series. Tennessee also defeated Princeton 133-85. UVa now stands at 5-3 on the season. The Vols improve to 6-0, while the Tigers are 3-2.
Virginia won four of 13 events on the afternoon, while Tennessee won the other nine. Fourth-year Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Academy) was the Cavaliers’ only multiple event winner as he touched first in the 1000 and 500 freestyles. Crippen clocked a time of 9:09.09 in winning the 1000 free and then registered a winning time of 4:28.44 in the 500 free. Third-years Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day) and Vanja Rogulj (Zagreb, Croatia/ Split) notched the other two UVa wins. Hirniak won the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:49.46, while Rogulj won the 200 breast in 2:01.79.
Crippen led one-two Virginia finishes in the 500 and 1000 frees with third-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) coming in second in both races. Millen posted a time of 4:33.57 in the 500 free and 9:19.87 in the 1000 free. Rogulj led a top three Cavalier sweep in the 200 breaststroke. Second-year PJ Sullivan (Franklin, Mass./Bishop Feehan) was runner-up in 200 breast with a time of 2:03.04, while second-year Ryan Hurley (Potomac, Md./Georgetown Prep) was right behind in third place (2:04.82).
Fourth-year Eric Kelley (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Christian School) registered a pair of second-place performances in the diving competition. Kelley set career-bests on the one-meter (298.95 points) and three-meter (323.55 points) boards. Kelley’s score of 323.55 on the three-meter board earned him an invitation to the NCAA Zone B Diving Regionals in March. Second-year Pat Mellors (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) also had two second-place finishes. He posted a time of 1:50.66 to take second in the 200 individual medley and was also runner-up in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:50.83.
Tennessee won the meet opening 400 medley relay with a time of 3:18.71 and also touched first in the 200 free relay (1:24.05) to close out the competition. The Vols’ Tyler Gustafson won the 100 and 200 free with times of 45.34 and 1:38.83, respectively. Burkley Showe swept the one and three-meter diving events with scores of 316.58 and 328.13, respectively.
The UVa men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams return to action on Friday (Jan. 20) when they travel to Durham, N.C., to swim at Duke. The Cavaliers then take on conference rival North Carolina on Saturday (Jan. 21) in Chapel Hill, N.C.