Terps Ready to Open Second Half
1/9/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Jan. 9, 2006
The Maryland women's swimming and diving team enters the second half of the 2005-06 season with a record of 5-2, 3-2 ACC, while the men come off the first half sitting at 2-4, 0-4 ACC. Many Terrapins recorded impressive performances under first-year head coach Dave Durden, and the swimmers are poised to build off those results in the second half of the season.
The women defeated conference rival Georgia Tech at a quad meet held at the Campus Recreation Center in College Park. They also posted conference wins over Miami and Duke, and finished fifth as they hosted the annual Terrapin Cup Invitational.
Senior Krisztina Kovacs (Budapest, Hungary) remains undefeated on the season in the 200-breaststroke, recording an NCAA B-cut time of 2:15:84 at the Terrapin Cup Invitational and holds the fastest time this season in the ACC. Kovacs has recorded four victories in the event this season.
Sophomore Maya Finkler (Rishon-le-zion, Israel) also has posted an undefeated season thus far in an event, winning both times she swam the 200- freestyle. Her time of 1:51:59, recorded at the quad meet with Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Florida State on Oct. 21-22, has been good for ninth in the ACC so far this season.
Junior Sasha Malanina (Volgograd, Russia) has also had a solid season for the Terps thus far. She picked up her first win of the season at the Oct. 21-22 quad meet when she won the 400-IM with a time of 4:24:49. In the Terps victories over Johns Hopkins and Howard on Oct. 28, Malanina, along with Finkler, paced the Terps with two individual victories.
On the boards, freshman Jen Fink (Hanover, Pa.) and sophomore Nicole Rose (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) earned victories in the Oct. 28 meet with Johns Hopkins and Howard. Fink won the 3-meter with a score of 233.55 and Rose the 1-meter with a score of 249.15.
On the men's side, junior Danny Gray (Carlisle, Pa.) has paced the Terps with two victories in the 50- free (20.96 vs. Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech/Florida State and 20.97 vs. Duke), and one in the 100-free (46.57) against. Duke.
Sophomore Martin Ott (Bayreuth, Germany) has also been a top performer for the men's team this season. He recorded a victory in the 200-IM (1:53:08) during the quad meet on Oct. 21-22, and two victories during the Nov. 5 meet against conference rival Duke (1:53:08 in the 200-IM and 1:52:94 in the 200-back).
Sophomores Jason Eccleston (Reisterstown, Md.) and Derek Hock (Aliquippa, Pa.) have each earned a victory on the boards. Eccleston won the 1-meter against Johns Hopkins and Howard with a score of 261.75, and Hock won the 3-meter in the same meet by scoring 277.05 points. They finished two-three on the 3-meter board in the next meet, a loss to Duke, with scores of 258.65 for Eccleston and 254.90 for Hock
The Terps rounded out their first half with the announcement of a new assistant coach, Kevin Clements, a 2002 graduate of Auburn.
The Terps return to the pool this weekend in a two-day meet against Villanova and host-team Pittsburgh.
