Tigers Drop To Fifth After Day Two At 2007 ACC Championships

Feb. 23, 2007

Chapel Hill, NC – On the second day of the ACC Championships at Koury Natatorium, the Clemson Men’s Swimming and Diving team fell two places to fifth in the overall competition. Attila Ruszka led the Tigers as he finished second in the 200 IM with the second fastest time in school history. Florida State (257 points) took the overall lead away from Virginia (205.5) who fell to second. Virginia Tech (178) is third, followed by North Carolina (164.5), and Clemson (131.5). N.C. State (116), Georgia Tech (105.5), Maryland (103), Duke (62), Miami (37), and Boston College (36) round out the field.

The first event of the night for Clemson was the 500 freestyle as junior Sean Geary placed 20th with a time of 4:33.24. In the next event the 200 IM, Ruszka posted an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time of 1:48.19 to win the silver medal. His time was just .09 off of the school record set by Matt Wilson during the 2001 ACC Championships. Freshman Matt Angelini picked up four points for Clemson in the 200 IM as he finished 13th with a time of 1:51.35. The final individual event of the night came in the form of the 50 freestyle. Mark Vahle (20.22) led the Tigers in the event as he sprinted to a fifth place finish. Stephen Russell (20.78) tied for 15th in the 50 after posting a career best time of 20.61 in the preliminary heats. Stephen Russell, and Jay Crout grabbed the bronze medal for Clemson for the second straight year in the 200 freestyle relay. The team touched the wall with a final time of 1:20.30, just .03 off the school record that was set in 1999 by Alex Ioanovici, Tim Collis, Rob Etheridge, and Brett Walker.

Clemson will be back in the pool tomorrow as they will compete in the preliminary heats of the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke. The meet will start at 11 a.m.