Gopher Men Dominate in Hawaii

HONOLULU, Hawaii, January 4. THE No. 9 Golden Gopher men's swimming and diving team dominated the pool today as the squad competed in the Aileen Soule Classic in Hawaii. The classic is in conjunction with the Rainbow Invitational hosted by the University of Hawaii.

The Maroon and Gold had 30 swimmers in the invite, placing swimmers in the top three spots in each event. The Gophers started the day with the 400 medley relay, placing four relays in the top six spots. Minnesota A won the event with a time of 3:21.60. The relay of Adam Mitchell, Sean Kelly, Lucas Petersen and Neil Osten took the top spot. Minnesota's B relay finished with a time of 3:25.30, which consisted of Diego Urreta, Alejandro Jacobo, Brian Gettelfinger and Igor Cerensek.

Travis Beckerle led Minnesota in the 1000-yard freestyle event placing second with a time of 9:30.00. David Moulder and Adam Apprill followed in the third and fourth spots with times of 9:33.07 and 9:48.53, respectively.

The Gophers had 13 swimmers entered in the 100 free race. Leading the pack was junior Terry Silkaitis, who placed second in 1:41.50. Hawaii's Andrew Affleck won the event in 1:41.40. Freshman Mario Delac, who joins the Gopher squad in the second semester, placed second in the event in 1:42.13. Following Silkaitis and Delac was Sean McCaffrey in fifth and Pavel Zhuraulev in sixth.

Minnesota then took first place in the next five events. The Gophers took the top four spots in the 50 free events. Osten won the race with a time of 21.05, Cerensek second in 21.14, Ales Volcansek finished third in 21.18 and Christian Anguis placed fourth with a time of 21.21.

Urreta followed Osten's performance with a first-place showing of his own in the 200 individual medley in 1:53.36. Mitchell won the 200 fly event clocking a time of 1:51.62, while Petersen placed third in 1:54.38.

The Maroon and Gold then collected the first five spots in the 100 free. Delac won the event with a time of 45.36. Cerensek finished second in 45.87, Anguis placed third, Osten fourth and Silkaitis fifth.

Mitchell captured his second individual win of the day in the 200 back adding a time of 1:49.30. Urreta was third in the race finishing with a time of 1:50.51. Scott Young placed fourth clocking a time of 1:54.28.

Beckerle and Moulder added another second and third-place showing, this time in the 500 free. The duo finished with times of 4:37.45 and 4:44.76, respectively. Jacobo led the Gophers in the 200 breast finishing third with a time of 2:07.17. Kelly followed right behind Jacobo in fourth with a time of 2:08.21.

The Gophers ended the day just as they started with a relay win in the 400 free relay. Delac, Osten, Mitchell and Cerensek combined for a time of 3:01.13. Minnesota's B relay of Silkaitis, Gettelfinger, Kiel Ochalek and Anguis placed second in 3:05.19.

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