lemson Swimming and Diving Seventh Going Into Final Day of Competition

Feb. 25, 2006

College Park, MD- Joel Johnson finished Friday night with the third and fourth fastest times ever recorded in Clemson history in the 100 backstroke. Johnson, a junior from North Augusta, GA, finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.00. He then turned around to lead off the 400 medley relay with a split of 48.92 in the 100 backstroke. The relay finished fifth, and Clemson is in seventh overall after three days of competition.

The 400 IM was the first event of the night. Andy Bergren (3:59.84) and Charlie Dillon (3:59.89) finished the consolation finals in 15th and 16th place overall, respectively. Half way through the heat, Dillon was in fourth and Bergren was in fifth. Dillon had the second fastest 100 butterfly split in the heat at 53.31. Pat Mellors (Sophomore, VA) won the event in a time of 3:45.10, just .11 off the ACC meet and conference record.

Mark Vahle was the only Tiger swimmer in the 100 butterfly Friday night. After qualifying 10th during the preliminary heats, Vahle again finished 10th, but lowered his time from 49.24 to 49.14. Virginia Tech’s Scott Beard won the event in an ACC meet record time of 47.05. Meanwhile, the Mengering Brothers finished 14th and 15th in the 200 free. Jonathan (1:40.06) touched out brother Dan (1:40.13) by .07 in the consolation finals. Both recorded season fastest times during the preliminary heats.

In the final heat of the 100 breaststroke, Joel Johnson (49.00) was the other Tiger competing in the finals, he finished just .35 behind winner Kevin Velleca (48.65) for the ACC title in the 100 backstroke. Johnson qualified fourth with his then career best time of 49.12. Jay Crout finished tied for 19th overall after his time of 51.62 in the bonus consolation heat.

Johnson then teamed with Ruszka, Vahle, and Brian Regone to finish fifth in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:17.06. He split a time of 48.92 to earn the third spot all-time in Clemson history. This was the fastest time of the season for the Tigers in the relay.

Florida State (462 points) leads in the overall standings after day three. Virginia (456) is right behind in second. North Carolina (349.5) is in third, and Georgia Tech (292.5) is in fourth. Then comes N.C. State (269), Virginia Tech (245) and Clemson (219.5). Maryland (157.5), Duke (78), Boston College (56), and Miami (37) round out the standings.

Clemson will compete in the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, and 200 butterfly tomorrow morning starting at 11 am. The timed final heats of the 1650 freestyle will start after the morning session, and the top eight seeds will swim with the finals tomorrow night.