Minnesota Men Win Ohio State Invite

COLUMBUS, Ohio, December 3. THE Minnesota Gophers won the men's three-day meet with 1,193.5 points at the second annual Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational at the Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic. The Ohio State men's swimming and diving team finished in second place with 749.5 points Pavilion, while Notre Dame finished in third with 601 points.

Ohio State kick started the meet by claiming the Top 2 spots in the 1,650-yard freestyle. George Markovic (Fr., Sydney, Australia/St. Ives) and Mark Neiman (Fr., Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill) both finished 10 seconds ahead of the competition. Markovic won the event in a NCAA ‘B' time of 15:22.74. Touching in just 1 second later, Neiman secured second place in a time of 15:23.50. The time is also a NCAA ‘B' standard. Mike Holmes of Minnesota rounded out the podium with 15:33.50.

Minnesota was responsible for the first two places in the 200-yard backstroke. David Plummer stopped the clock first at 1:44.45, while teammate Russ Payne finished next in 1:46.73. Both Gophers recorded NCAA ‘B' standards in the event. Ohio State again found itself on the podium when Nate King (Sr., Youngstown, Ohio/Warren Harding) completed the race in a season-best time of 1:48.33 for third place.

Gophers Igor Cerensek and Tyler Schmidt went 1-2 in the 100-yard freestyle. Cerensek swam a NCAA ‘B' time of 44.46 to win the event, while Schmidt came in second at 44.92. Schmidt shared the runner-up position with South Carolina's Kyle Cormier. Joe Doyle (Sr., Centerburg, Ohio/Centerburg) posted Ohio State's fastest time of 45.11 for fifth place. Matt Voelker (Jr., Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) touched in behind him at 45.21 to finish sixth.

Daniel Malnik (Fr., Rishon le-Zion, Israel/Gan-Nahum) picked up Ohio State's second win of the night in the 200-yard breaststroke. He lowered his preliminary time to re-post a pool and meet record of 1:59.17 in the event. Jason Timmer of Minnesota stopped the clock next at 2:02.00. Iowa's Dragos Agache won the bronze in 2:02.96.

In a close race for first, Notre Dame's MacKenzie LeBlanc came out on top in the 200-yard butterfly. His pool and meet-record time of 1:48.36 edged out three Minnesota swimmers for the win. Hiro Sugimoto touched the wall second for a time of 1:48.55. Teammate Zack Wood slid into third by one-tenth of a second in a time of 1:48.70. Matthias Sigrist (So., Schaffhausen, Switzerland/Schaffhausen) was the Buckeye's fastest swimmer with a time of 1:53.11 to finish in eighth place.

The diving portion of the invitational ended with Purdue's Danny Cox winning the platform event with a score of 339.85. Alabama diver Aaron Fleshner finished second, just eight points out of first with a score of 331.75. Boilermaker Steven Lobue scored 317.15 points for third. Diving the event for the first time this season, defending champion Wes Wieser (So., Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) placed the highest for the Buckeyes with a score of 311.50. He finished fifth in the event.

Minnesota swept the last event of the meet, going 1-2 in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Its winning team swam a time of 2:56.27, while its second-place team swam the event in 2:59.34. Both times qualify as NCAA ‘B' standards. The Gamecocks (3:00.28) raced into third place, just three-tenths ahead of the Buckeyes (3:00.58). The Ohio State team of Doyle, Voelker, R.J. Lemyre (Sr., Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Michael Kordel (So., Cleveland, Ohio/St. Edwards) finished in fourth.

"We are happy with how we competed this weekend," Bill Wadley, Ohio State head swimming coach, said. "I am very happy with George Markovic and Mark Neiman going 1-2 and just being off of the school record in the 1,650. Daniel Malnik did a great job, winning the 200 breaststroke. I am pleased with the 400 free relay, too."

Following the winter break, the men will return to action with a dual meet against Indiana at the Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Jan. 6 at noon.

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