Feb. 17, 2009

OXFORD, Ohio--Coach Pete Lindsay's Miami University men's swimming and diving squad aims for its eighth all-time league title February 18-21 at the Mid-American/Sun Belt Conference Championships in Nashville, Tennessee. Action begins Wednesday at the Nashville Sportsplex.

Miami senior diver Chris Heaton (Centerville), individual titlist in both the one- and three-meter competition each of the last three championships (2006, '07 and '08), seeks a career sweep this week. He has won six league diving titles, one shy of the all-time record of seven by Bowling Green's Phil Koester from 1980-83.

Besides Miami, teams competing for the MAC Championship are defending champ Eastern Michigan, Ball State and Buffalo. The Sun Belt will be represented by Denver, Evansville, Florida Atlantic, Missouri State, New Orleans, Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky. The last time Miami won the MAC team title was in 2006.

The men's combined meet will be scored as one meet, but student-athletes and teams from each conference will be recognized separately. The top three (3) finishers from each conference will be awarded medal and the top teams from each conference will be named their respective conference champion.

The daily schedule and Miami's entries (rankings among MAC athletes):

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2009

2:30 p.m. Men's 3 Meter prelims: nr, Chris Heaton, 422.55; nr, Jimmy Beres, 401.70

7:00 p.m. 200 Medley Relay: 2nd, 1:34.92

Men' s 3 Meter Finals

800 Freestyle Relay: 2nd, 6:55.73

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009

11:00 a.m. Prelimininaries:

500 Freestyle: 4th, Brendan Melling, 4:38.48

200 Individual Medley

50 Freestyle: 2nd, Dave Brown, :20.45; 7th, Zac Siegel, :21.26

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009

11:00 a.m. Preliminaries:

400 Individual Medley: 3rd, Darin Smith, 4:09.04

100 Butterfly: 3rd, Rob Jackson, :51.12; 4th, Jason Hass, :51.29

200 Freestyle: 2nd, Chris Gunnels, 1:41.81; 3rd, Lenny Wanta, 1:42.22; 4th, Dave Brown, 1:42.82

100 Breaststroke: 6th, Mike Carroll, :58.45

100 Backstroke: 3rd, Chris Gunnels, :51.85

12:30 p.m. Men's One Meter Prelims: nr, Chris Heaton, 385.20; nr, Jimmy Beres, 384.10;

7:00 p.m. Finals as above with One meter diving finals & 400 Medley Relay: 2nd, 3:26.20

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2009

11:00 a.m. Preliminaries:

200 Backstroke: 3rd, Darin Smith, 1:52.07

100 Freestyle: 3rd, Dave Brown, :45.82; 6th, Zac Siegel, :46.77

200 Breaststroke

200 Butterfly: 2nd, Jason Hass, 1:52.49

4:30 p.m. 1650 Freestyle Heats: 3rd, Brendan Melling, 16:07.45; 4th, Darin Smith, 16:14.26

6:30 p.m. Final Heat of 1650 & Finals as above w/ 400 Freestyle Relay

2009 MAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championship Information and LIVE STATS can be accessed at http://mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=9400&KEY=&ATCLID=3660446

--www.MURedHawks.com--