M. Swimming Qualify 12 For The NCAAs; Diving Completes First Day of Zone B Meet
Saturday, March 11, 2006 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The University of Florida Men's Swimming Team qualified 12 swimmers for the NCAA Championships on March 23-25 in Atlanta. The NCAA released the lineup for the competition on Friday evening.
Leading the Gators will be a core of experienced swimmers, which will include two-time Olympic medalist and four-time NCAA champion senior Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.). Lochte is scheduled to compete individually in the 200 IM, 200 back and 400 IM.
Lochte won a pair of individual NCAA titles last season in Minneapolis, Minn., including the 200 IM (1:41.71) and the 200 back (1:38.37). He won the 400 IM title during his sophomore year in 2004 with a time of 4:04.52.
“I look forward to watching him race for Florida for the last time,” Florida assistant coach Martyn Wilby said. “Every time he has gone to the starting blocks he has given us all the energy he has. I know he will do the same this year.”
Lochte will be joined by fellow seniors Brian Hartley (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Nick Borreca (Honolulu, Hawaii), who will also be making their final appearance at the NCAA championships. Hartley, along with Lochte and sophomore Darian Townsend, (Pietermartizburg, South Africa) helped Florida capture the 800 freestyle relay title in an NCAA record time of 6:16.53 last season. Borreca has been a key member of the 200 and 400 free relays this season. He swam the opening leg of the 200 FR at the SEC Championships and helped the team record a season-best time of 1:19.24. He also swam the third leg of the 400 FR at the SEC Championships, where the Gators recorded a season-best time of 2:54.95.
A total of five Gators will be making their first trip to the NCAA championships, which will be held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. Freshman Bradley Ally (Ft. Lauderdale) will compete in the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 breast. Ally is coming off a strong performance at the SEC Championships where he swam career-best times in the 200 IM (1:45.36) and 200 breast (1:57.14), placing second in both events.
Sophomores Grant Johnson (Clearwater, Fla.) and Max Jaben (Overland Park, Kan.) both qualified for the 500 free and 1,650 free. Johnson had a thrilling win over Alabama's Mark Randall in the 500 free earlier this year and followed up with a season-best time of 4:21.52 at the SEC Championships. Jaben came through with a victory in the 1,650 free against Auburn with a season-best time of 15:09.93.
Sophomore Tobias Work (Falmouth, Mass.) will be making his second appearance at the NCAA Championships as the Gators' top distance swimmer. Work has the team's best time in the 1,650 free (15:06.18) and the 500 free (4:19.50). Both came at the SEC Championships last month in Knoxville, Tenn. Sophomore Luca DeMatteis (Naples, Italy) will also make his second appearance at the NCAA Championships competing in the 200 breast. DeMatteis is the school record holder in the event with a career-best time of 1:56.53.
Townsend will also make his second consecutive appearance at the NCAA championships. He is scheduled to compete in the 50 free and 200 free only one day after returning from the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Transfer sophomore Kevin Nead (Ithaca, N.Y.) will travel with the team to Atlanta and compete in the 200 IM and 400 IM. Freshman Lucas Salatta (Sao Paulo, Brazil) will compete in the 100 back and 200 back. Sophomore Daniel Penniman (Pensacola, Fla.) will compete in the 50 free and 200 free.
Auburn leads the competition with 18 total swimmers qualifying, followed by Stanford (15) California (14) and Texas (14). Minnesota will also send 12 swimmers to the championship meet.
“You have to look at the core of the group and it's probably one of the most talented teams they we've had at Florida in a long time,” Wilby said. “I think our approach at SEC championships to take the core group has only helped us in the long term. We're going to have a good presence at the meet with the 12 athletes that we have.
Florida will depart for Atlanta on Monday March 20. A complete schedule of events and a full list of competitors can be found at http://www.ncaasports.com/swimming/mens.
DIVING: Freshman diver Alicia Miller (Hobie Sound, Fla.) finished 18th in the finals of the women's one-meter event with a score of 474.30 at the Zone B qualifier in Lexington, Ky. Miller qualified for the finals with a preliminary score of 236.65. Junior Justin Schmidt (Falcon, Colo.) recorded a score of 543.00 to finish 16th in the men's three-meter dive. Schmidt had a 292.30 during the preliminary dive earlier in the day. Freshman Jonathan Wilcox scored a 213.95 to finish 36th in the three-meter dive. The Zone B Competition continues on Saturday with the women's three-meter and men's one-meter dives.
Florida 2006 NCAA Championship Team
Bradley Ally
Nick Borreca
Luca DeMatteis
Brian Hartley
Max Jaben
Grant Johnson
Ryan Lochte
Kevin Nead
Daniel Penniman
Lucas Salatta
Darian Townsend
Tobias Work
-UF-
