March 8, 2002

Results

Athens, Ohio -- With its win in the day's final race - the 800 freestyle relay - Miami's men's swimming and diving team moved into the top spot heading into the final day of competition at the Mid-American Conference Championships in Athens, Ohio.

The RedHawks lead the Bobcats, 506-504, with seven events to be decided Sunday. They are the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, three-meter diving and 400 free relay.

For the second day in a row, seniors John Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis) and Eric DiSalle (Maumee, Ohio/St. Francis) each took the crown in an individual event. Carroll won his second championship of the meet, and eighth of his career, in the 400 individual medley, finishing in 3:52.19. It is the third year in a row he has won the 400 IM, while his eight individual MAC victories puts him one back of the school record. He will have a chance to tie that mark Sunday, when he swims the 200 fly.

DiSalle defended his title in the 200 free, in which he touched the wall in 1:38.63. He and Carroll were joined by sophomore David Fraas (Ashland, Ohio/St. Francis) and junior Kelly Ball (Granger, Ind./Penn) on the 800 free relay team that finished first and set a new school record with a time of 6:37.69. The old standard was set by the same quartet at last year's conference championships.

The RedHawks maintained their dominance of the IM events as they placed five swimmers in the top 12 of the 400. After Carroll, senior Kevin Mulgrew (Malden, Mass./Malden Catholic) and junior Jeremy Salomon (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Cleveland Orange) tied for fourth with a time of 4:00.82, while junior Andy Norr (Schoolcraft, Mich./Portage Central) and senior Jason Finck (Villa Hills, Ky./Beechwood) came in sixth and 12th in 4:02.25 and 4:05.40, respectively.

They also continued to have their share of success in the middle-distance freestyle events, Along with DiSalle's triumph, Ball, Fraas and senior Mark Piersma (Huntsville, Ala./Grissom) took third (1:39.07), fourth (1:40.57) and ninth (1:41.57), respectively, in the 200.

Sophomore Brad Bartel (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) showed off his versatility, placing sixth in the 100 breast (57.69) and ninth in the 100 fly (50.40), and swimming a leg of the third-place 200 medley relay, which also consisted of Carroll, freshman Jason Krasula (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) and junior Dave Bergan (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton). It reached the deck in 1:32.05.

Joining Bartel in the 100 fly were senior Ryan Gandre (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) in fourth (49.90) and sophomore Andrew Keefe (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) in seventh (50.17), while sophomore Paul Jacob (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) also raced in the finals of 100 breast, placing 12th in 59.14.

Krasula led a trio of RedHawks in the 100 back, taking fourth with a 50.82 clocking. Keefe was 13th (52.60) and freshman John Grubb (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) was 14th (52.67).

Preliminaries on the final day begin at noon with finals starting at 7 p.m.

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