Oct. 19, 2005

College Park, Md. - The Maryland men's and women's swimming and diving teams open their seasons this Friday, Oct. 21, against ACC rivals Georgia Tech, Florida State and Virginia Tech. The meet will begin at 5 p.m. at the Campus Recreation Center.

Last year, the women earned their first three ACC victories of the season in dominating wins over Georgia Tech 265-86, Florida State 228-124 and Virginia Tech 240-113. The men fell to all three teams by scores of 214-139 to the Yellow Jackets, 240-113 to the Seminoles and 205-146 to the Hokies.

This is also the first meet for the Seminole men and women. The Yellow Jackets are coming off losses to nationally ranked Georgia last weekend. The men are 0-2 while the women are 0-1. The Hokie men are 0-1, coming off a loss to Clemson, while the women bring a 2-0 record after defeating Marshall on Oct. 8 and ACC foe Clemson.

Last year vs. the Seminoles, Hokies and Yellow Jackets

• The women's swimming and diving team broke four records at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, home of the 1996 Olympic Games.

• Senior Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) and junior Gigi deToll (Culpeper, Va.) were both members of the record breaking 400-medley relay team with a time of 3:48.15. deToll was also part of the winning 200-medley relay (1:44.23) team.

• Sophomore Maya Finkler (Rishon-le-zion, Isreal) came in third in the 200-free (1:52.84). Kovacs finished second in the 200-breast (2:20.47) and third in the 100-breast (1:04.81) Sophomore Atalie Abranocvic (Kittaning, Pa.) took fourth in the 100-breast (1:05.26).

• Junior Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia) finished second in the 400-IM (4:28.11).

• Sophomore diver Nicole Rose (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) placed third on the 1-meter board (238.40), sophomore Kirsten Jones (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) finished third in the 400-IM (4:28.78), senior Inbal Levavi (Kibbutz Givat Haim, Israel) took third in the 200-back (2:05.70) and senior Barbara Sumrall (Chattanooga, Tenn.) came in third in the 100-fly (57.53).

•On the men's side, sophomore Martin Ott (Bayreuth, Germany) was the only winner for the Terp men, taking the 200-IM in 1:52.70. He also finished third in the 200-fly (1:54.33), second in the 100-fly (51.32) and third in the 400-IM (4:01.15).

Women at a Glance

• The women won the program's first-ever ACC Championship and finished with a perfect 11-0 overall record, including 7-0 in the ACC. They finished last season ranked 12th in the College Swimming Coaches Association of American polls, the highest ranking in program history.

• Maryland sent nine women to the NCAA Championships and finished 22nd with 40 points.

• Junior Gigi deToll swam to her second ACC title in the 100-fly qualifying for the NCAA Championships. She earned Honorable All-American honors in the 100-fly and 200-medley relay and All-ACC honors in the 100-fly, 200-medley and 400-medley relays.

• Junior Sasha Malanina qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400-IM, 500-free, 1,000-free and 800-free relay.

• Freshman Yelena Skalinskaya swam in the 2004 Olympic Games in the 50- and 100-free.

Men at a Glance

• The men finished 4-7 last season, including 1-6 in the ACC, and finished seventh at the conference championship meet.

• The Terps have four seniors returning: Pat Doyle, Andrew Foran, Erik Putkonen and Chris Starr.

• Sophomore Martin Ott earned All-ACC honors for his third-place finish in the 200-IM at the ACC Championships.

• Sophomore Stefan Giesen was a finalist in the 200-free and 200-fly at the ACC Championships.

About Coach Durden

• Head coach Dave Durden has spent the last five seasons at Auburn University, including the last season as the assistant men's head coach for the 2005 NCAA National Championship Team.

• Durden graduated from California-Irvine in 1998 with a degree in electrical engineering.

E-mail Straight To You - If you would like the latest Maryland men's and women's swimming and diving news e-mailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, e-mail men's and women's swimming and diving contact Kate Homan at khoman@umd.edu with the message "Swimming E-mail" as the subject and you will receive every update released about the team.