Dec. 5, 2008

Results

YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Wayne State men's swimming and diving team is in second place behind Eastern Michigan after the first day of competition at the EMU Invitational.

The Warriors totaled 279 points Friday, 75 behind the Eagles, and posted 15 new national qualifying times including six "A" cuts.

Fernando Costa (Porto, Portugal) won the 1650 freestyle, achieved an "A" cut and broke Christian Erard's 2002 school record by 18 seconds (15:24.34). His time of 9:16.95 in the first 1000 yards also broke Erard's 2003 record in the 1000 free.

Sean Smith's (Auburn, Mich./Bay City Western) first-place time of 200 backstroke (1:45.10) earned him an "A" qualifier, surpassed his own school record by nearly three seconds, and broke the pool and meet record set by Michigan's Derya Buyukuncu in 1994. He also finished second and notched an "A" cut in the 200 butterfly (1:52.06).

Sebastian Rzepa (Clinton Twp., Mich./Chippewa Valley) broke his own school record by .02 seconds with a third-place and "A" qualifying time of 45.60 in the 100 free.

Jimmy Lee (Windsor, Ont./Riverside) placed fourth in the 200 backstroke (1:51.44), and the second-place 400 free relay of Justin Shields (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay), Jesper Akesson (Malmo, Sweden), Cauli Bedran (Rio de Janiero, Brazil), and Rzepa posted a time of 3:01.68. Shields' leadoff time of 46.27 also earned him a "B" cut.

Additional "B" qualifiers include: James Ekleberry (Rochester Hills, Mich./Avondale), who finished fifth in the 1650 free (16:14.61) and garnered a 1000 free cut as well (9:43.56); Akesson and Bedran who came in fifth (45.91) and seventh (46.21) in the 100 free; Matthew Laschuk (Tecumseh, Ont./Academie Ste. Cecile), Matt Victor (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay), and Matt Carlson (Plymouth, Mich./Canton)who placed fifth (2:06.06), seventh (2:07.62), and eighth (2:07.68) in the 200 breaststroke; and Ben Dueweke (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) and Justin Rauhoff (Richland, Mich./Comstock), who finished fourth (1:54.38) and eighth (1:55.67) in the 200 fly.

The Eastern Michigan Invitational continues Saturday at 10:00 a.m.