Jan. 27, 2006

College Park, Md. - The Maryland Terrapin swimming and diving teams return home tomorrow to face the North Carolina Tar Heels in an ACC meet at the Natatorium of the Campus Recreation Center. The men's team enters the meet at 3-6 (0-5 ACC), while the women look to improve upon their 7-3 (4-2) record against the 7-2 (3-1) Tar Heels.

The Terps were last in action a week ago in Raleigh, N.C., where they took on the N.C. State Wolfpack. The women defeated the Wolfpack 127-114 in a tense meet that went down to the final event, while the men fell by a score of 152-76.

Last Time for the Terps

On the women's side

• The 200 freestyle relay team of freshman Yelena Skalinskaya (Almaty, Kazakhstan), junior Kaleena Laputka (Shamong, N.J.), senior Barbara Sumrall (Chattanooga, Tenn.), and junior Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia) wrapped up the victory when they took the final event of the day in 1:36.15.

• The 200 medley relay team wrapped up a successful day for the Terrapin relay teams as they won the event in 1:45.84. The team consisted of Sumrall, senior Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary), junior Gigi deToll (Culpeper, Va.), and sophomore Maya Finkler (Rishon-le-zion, Israel).

• DeToll and Sumrall finished first and second in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 56.83 and 57.76 seconds, respectively.

• Finkler took the 200 free with a time of 1:53:64.

• Malanina won the 200 IM in 2:05:27.

• Kovacs took the 100 breaststroke in 1:03:40.

On the men's side

• Junior Tim Shepard (Catonsville, Md.) earned the men's only individual victory of the day when he won the 100 breast in 58.74. He was followed by two teammates, freshman Eric Cullen (Severn, Md.) and junior Tony Miller (Severna Park, Md.), who took second and third with times of 58:85 and 1:00:20.

• The 200 free relay team of senior Danny Gray (Carlisle, Pa.), senior Patrick Doyle (Norfolk, Va.), sophomore Stefan Geisen (Lahnstein, Germany), and freshman Matt Golebiewski (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) won their event with a time of 1:24.21.

• Doyle also placed highly in the 200 free, where he finished second with a time of 1:43.19.

• The Terps took three of the top five spots in the 200 IM as Geisen, Miller, and Cullen finished 3rd (1:56:74), 4th (1:56:85), and 5th (1:59:22), respectively.

• Geisen also earned a second place finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:45:65.

• Sophomore Eric Thomasson (Severna Park, Md.) had two strong showings as he placed third in the 100 fly (52:04) and second in the 100 back (53:91). Thomasson was followed by senior Erik Putkonen, who finished third in the 100 back with a time of 54:62.

The meet begins Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at the Natatorium in the Campus Recreation Center. It is the Terps second-to-last meet of the season before postseason play begins.