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 Sebastian Rzepa contributed to three school records in the prelims on Thursday. |
March 12, 2009
HOUSTON, Texas - The Wayne State University men's swimming and diving team qualified four individuals and two relays to swim in Thursday night's final events on the second day of competition at the NCAA Division II Championships, hosted by the University of Houston.
School records fell in four of the five preliminary events, beginning with the 200 free relay of Cauli Bedran (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Jesper Akesson (Malmo, Sweden), Sebastian Rzepa (Clinton Twp., Mich./Chippewa Valley), and Justin Shields (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay), which finished fourth (1:21.23).
Duarte Mourao's (Loures, Portugal) eighth-place time of 3:57.50 in the 400 individual medley broke current graduate assistant coach A.J. Erard's 2005 record of 4:01.50, the oldest WSU swimming record on the board. Matt Carlson (Plymouth, Mich./Canton) finished 24th (4:06.19).
Just .89 seconds separated the first- and eighth-place swimmers in the 100 butterfly. Mourao, who broke his own WSU record, was third (48.50) followed by Sean Smith (Auburn, Mich./Bay City Western) in fifth (48.61). Ben Dueweke (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) came in 28th (50.30).
Rzepa also broke his own school record in the 200 free, finishing fourth (1:37.86), while Shields tied for 25th (1:41.20).
Thursday's preliminary round of swims wrapped up with the 400 medley relay, in which Bedran, Akesson, Smith, and Rzepa placed sixth (3:19.29).
The second round of finals is scheduled to begin at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET. Wayne State trails first-place Drury University by just 2.5 points (101-98.5).
