Feb. 21, 2006

College Park, Md. - The Maryland men's swimming and diving team will enter this weekend's ACC Championships looking to make up for a winless regular season in the conference. Led by four seniors, the Terps begin their march tomorrow night with the 200 medley relay and 800 free relay.

Senior Patrick Doyle (Norfolk, Va.) will have a big impact right off the bat. Last year, he was a part of the 800 free relay team that set a Maryland school record (6:36.37) in finishing sixth. Doyle also finished 22nd in the 100 free (46.03), ninth in the 200 free (1:38.84, a career best), and 19th in the 500 free (4:33.31)

The Terps' other seniors were also a presence at last year's conference championships. Andrew Foran (Atascadero, Calif.) achieved a career best time of 1:50.95 in the 200 fly, finishing 14th. He also finished 21st in the 400 IM (4:02.67) and 22nd in the 200 IM (1:53.36).

Erik Putkonen (Marietta, Ga.) set a career best in the 200 back, finishing 20th in 1:50.67. He also established a career record in the 500 free, where he finished in 4:41.11. Chris Starr (Ellicott City, Md.) established career bests in the 200 free (1:44.75) and the 200 back (1:55.09) at last year's championships.

The Terps will be looking to junior Danny Gray (Carlisle, Pa.) to bring in some points in the free sprint events, in which he has paced the team this season. Gray set a personal record with his 50 free time of 20.51 against North Carolina The time was the best for any Terp this season, missing an NCAA B-cut standard by less than 2 tenths of a second. He set another season record for the Terps in the 100 free, where his best time was a 46.14 in the meet with Pittsburgh and Villanova on January 13-14. Gray should also figure in tomorrow's relay events.

Sophomore Stefan Geisen (Lahnstein, Germany) was an ACC finalist last season in the 200 free (1:38.93) and 200 fly (1:49.13). He paired with Doyle and departed seniors Chris Brandenberger and Erik Weinberg for the school record-setting 800 free team.

Junior Tony Miller (Severna Park, Md.) also scored for the Terps in last year's championships, finishing 19th in the 200 and 400 IM events (1:53.52 and 4:01.59).

Competition gets underway Wednesday night at 7 p.m. from the Natatorium of the Campus Recreation Center in College Park. The championships will go all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with the event wrapping up Saturday evening.