Three Conference Records Set at Big East Championships

EAST MEADOW, New York, February 14. THE 2007 BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships got off to a triumphant start as three new league records were set by the Mountaineers of West Virginia. The men set new records in the 800 yard freestyle relay while both the men and women's foursomes set new records in the 200 yard medley relays.

In the first event of the day, the women's 800 yard freestyle relay, reining champions Notre Dame pulled away with a convincing win. The foursome of Christa Riggins, Casey Wagner, Megan Farrell and Katie Carroll got the Fighting Irish off to a strong start with a final time of 7:15.36. Pittsburgh followed at 7:19.14 and West Virginia finished in third one second later with a time of 7:20.14.

The men followed in the 800 freestyle relay where the first BIG EAST record of the day was broken as the relay team from West Virginia set the new time at 6:32.21. Zoltan Povazsai, Pablo Marmolejo, Tony Cisneros and Nick Delic led the Mountaineers to break the record which was set in 2002 by Pittsburgh. The Fighting Irish came in second with a time of 6:32.67 followed by Syracuse at 6:39.20.

Pittsburgh continued its winning ways in the diving well as Alex Volvoetski captured the men's 1 Meter Diving title with a score of 374.50. The sophomore finished in second place last year to senior teammate Jeremy Stultz. Michael Bulfin and Sam Stoner, both from Notre Dame, finished in second and third with times of 334.35 and 329.40, respectively.

The 200 yard medley relay concluded the first session of the conference championships. The second record of the day was set as the West Virginia women recorded a time of 1:40.58 with the foursome of Morgan Callaway, Kitti Veisz, Stephanie Shupe and Kayla Andrews. The previous time of 1:41.76 was set by Rutgers in 2006. The Scarlet Knights topped their own record with a time of 1:41.01, placing them second. Notre Dame finished in third with a time of 1:42.91.

West Virginia claimed another first place finish as the men broke their second BIG EAST record of the day in the men's 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:27.21; the original record was set at 1:28.49 by Virginia Tech in 2003. Ivan Tolic, Kevin Donohue, Nick Delic and Andrew Langenfeld made up the Mountaineer team. Notre Dame followed in second place with a time of 1:29.09 while Cincinnati came in third with a time of 1:29.57.

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