Terps Finish ACC Championships on High Note
2/27/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 27, 2010
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Maryland had multiple point-scorers in both the 1650 free and 200 fly Saturday night as the Terps wrapped up an eighth-place finish at the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.
The Terps opened up the finals with three top-20 performances in the 1650 free. Chris Rouchard led the way with a 12th-place finish and an NCAA B-cut time of 15:31.98. Fellow senior Brian Honore followed up his fellow classmate in 15th (15:37.80) while freshman Nick Evans touched the wall 17th (15:42.56).
Maryland also racked up a trio of point-scorers in the 200 fly, led by a sixth-place finish from senior Aleksandar Damjanic. Damjanic, who was one of Maryland's most valuable performers of the championships, tallied a B-cut time of 1:48.05 in his finals' swim. Sophomore Sean Stewart took 13th (1:48.68) and junior Roger Dent finished 16th (1:49.20).
Sophomore Andrew Relihan continued his solid championship meet with a 10th-place showing in the 200 back (1:46.67). Freshmen Andrew Fisher (1:49.23) and Alex Spina (1:50.10) finished 21st and 22nd, respectively, in the C-finals.
Junior Mitch Challacombe put up additional points for Maryland, finishing tied for 11th in the 100 free (45.16). Junior Matt Gruszecki took 23rd (46.11).
Jon Szakelyhidi boasted Maryland's top performance in the 200 breast, shaving nearly two seconds off his prelim swim time in a 24th place finish in the C-finals (2:07.49).
Maryland wrapped up the evening with by taking ninth in the 400 free relay, as the team of Damjanic, Ryan Greene, Challacombe and Relihan registered a B-cut time of 3:00.62.
"I am proud of how we stayed together as a team and swam with a lot of heart," head coach Sean Schimmel said. "We were able to set some new school-records and we look to continue to build our team. I think bottom line I am just so proud of how our guys came together as a team and performed well, especially those last few sessions."
Maryland will compete in the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier March 5-7. In addition to the B-cut swims over the four-day championships, the Terps will compete at the qualifier aiming to land swimmers in the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships March 25-27 in Columbus, Ohio.
