Preston Part of Three School Records
St. Mary' City, Md. - Four Capital Athletic Conference championship records fell in the first day of action at the 2009 CAC Men's & Women's Swimming Championships hosted by St. Mary's College of Maryland from today until Sunday, February 15 when the team champion will be crowned.
Three CAC records were set by the University of Mary Washington, while Marymount (Va.) University's senior Greg Murtha (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) established a new mark in the 50 free with his NCAA ‘B' cut of 20.64.
The Seahawks set three school marks en route to their third-place standing after one day of competition as St. Mary's tallied 148 points in five events.
Senior Mike Preston (Pasadena, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) set two individual school marks in the 50 free and the 500 free. Preston set the school record in the 50 free with his time of 21.63 in the lead-off leg of the 200 free relay. He then followed that up with a school mark in the 500 free as he swam a fourth-best time of 4:42.77, displacing Pat McGarrity's 1999 record of 4:50.82.
St. Mary's quartet of Preston, sophomores Aaron Page (Keene, N.H./Keene), Gabe Grace (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytech), and Jackson Webb (Leonardtown, Md./Leonardtown) broke the oldest standing school mark in the 200 free relay as the Seahawks finished fourth in 1:27.56, surpassing the old mark of 1:28.21 set in 1995.
TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Mary Washington 245, 2. York
(Pa.) 177, 3. St. Mary's (Md.) 148,
4. Marymount (Va.) 116, 5. Salisbury 94, 6. Hood 63, 7. Gallaudet
50.
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EVENT |
FIRST TEAM ALL-CAC |
SECOND TEAM |
THIRD TEAM ALL-CAC |
|
200 Free Relay |
UMW - Michael Dickerson, Cesare Zannoni, Justin Anderson, Brian O'Donnell |
YCP - Ben Hilt, Clark Arnold, Jack Gottschalk, Matthew Jennings |
MMU - Brian Tinsman, Jason Hay, Bryan Morch, Greg Murtha |
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|
500 Free |
UMW - Tyler Henderson |
UMW - Brad Dunn |
UMW - Ian McCormick |
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|
200 IM |
UMW - Stephen Clendenin |
UMW - Justin Anderson |
SU - Mike Ferrari |
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50 Free |
MMU - Greg Murtha |
UMW - Michael Dickerson |
SMC - Jackson Webb |
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400 Medley Relay |
UMW - Tyler Henderson, Enser Cole, Stephen Clendenin, Justin Anderson |
YCP - Matthew Jennings, Steven Tobin, Clark Arnold, Jack Gottschalk |
SMC - Gabriel Grace, Aaron Page, Troy Kent, Mike Preston |
SEAHAWK HIGHLIGHTS
The foursome of Grace,
Page, freshman Troy Kent (New
Market, Md./Linganore), and Preston were just over
a second shy of breaking the school record (3:38.54 set in 2001) in
the 400 medley relay as the Seahawks earned third team All-CAC
honors with their third-place time of 3:39.58.
Webb garnered third team all-conference honors after taking third in the 50 free with his time of 21.65, just 0.03 seconds from setting a school record.
Senior Bobby Wiley (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) was second in the consolation finals of the 500 free as Wiley placed 10th overall in 5:03.44.
Junior Cam Buckingham (Silver Spring, Md./Blake) placed fourth in the 200 IM in 2:01.41, while Grace came in fifth in 2:02.24.
