Wright State Turns In Record Performances On Day 3 At Horizon League Champs

CHICAGO, Ill, February 27. THE third day of the 2004 Horizon League Swimming & Diving Championships provided some high-octane finishes from the start of the evening finals session on Friday night at a pumped UIC Natatorium.

The Wright State Raiders picked up five more individual championships on Friday and another league record with a time of 7:39.91 by the women's 800-yard freestyle relay team made up of Katie Tippett, Julie Coghlan, Tina Pandza and Milda Zilinskaite. They crashed the record set by Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2001.

Overall, the Raider women lead UW-Green Bay (532) by only 10 points with six events left to go on Saturday. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is third with 434 points, UIC (295½) fourth, Cleveland State (245) fifth, Youngstown State (188) sixth and Butler (154) rounds out the field.

The Raider men still have a good lead after 14 events with a total of 520. The Phoenix is second with 486. Cleveland State (451), UIC (344), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (332) and Butler (176) will be working to made up ground on the final day.

The Raiders have two men and two women individual champions. Sophomore Alex Dolgov won the 400-yard individual medley and sophomore Rafael Candido won the 100-yard breaststroke. Senior Jackie Dexter took first in the 100-yard butterfly with Senior Katie Tippett leading a trio that took the first three spots in the 200-yard freestyle with Pandza and Amanda Mueller helping the Raider effort.

The women's 400-yard IM provided the start of the excitement for UIC, with Vanessa Segovia and Youngstwon state's Erin Carter neck-and-neck the entire time. Segovia and Carter traded the lead for most of the final 200 yards as Segovia closed the gap between her and the early-leading Carter at the half-way point. It couldn't have been any tighter, with Carter's 4:33.82 edging out Segovia's 4:33.90. Segovia's time broke her own UIC school record of 4:36.32 set in 2002.

Other shining moments included Wright State's new league record in the same women's 800 free relay, taking the event in 7:39.91 and crushing the old mark of 7:42.43 set by UW-Green bay three years ago.

Cleveland State's Marianna Lionell downed the UIC Natatorium record in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking first in the event with a 1:04.98 to pass the old pool mark of 1:05.04.

The Vikings set another Natatorium record in the night's final event, winning the men's 800 free relay in 6:45.03. The new mark replaced Cleveland State's 2002 pool record of 6:45.72.

The 2004 Horizon League Swimming & Diving Championships wrap up tomorrow, February 28th with swimming preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. The men's one-meter final starts at 3:30 p.m., while the women's three-meter takes place during swimming finals at 6 p.m.

2004 Horizon League Swimming & Diving Championships

Team Standings Through Event 28

Women
1. Wright State- 542.50 points
2. UW-Green Bay- 532
3. UW-Milwaukee- 434
4. UIC- 296.50
5. Cleveland State- 245
6. Youngstown State- 188
7. Butler- 154

Men
1. Wright State- 520
2. UW-Green Bay- 486
3. Cleveland State- 451
4. UIC- 344
5. UW-Milwaukee- 332
6. Butler- 176

2004 Horizon League Championships Results/

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