Tigers Perform Well at NCAA Meet

March 25, 2011

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – A pair of recently-broken school records fell again for the Clemson men’s swimming team on Thursday at the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.

After six events, the Tigers are in 19th place with 16.5 points. Texas leads after the first day of action with 139 points.

“We are proud of the Tigers’ first night accomplishments,” said Head Coach Christopher Ip. “Not too many athletes can still find another gear at nationals, but we have. We broke our freestyle relay school record twice today. Eric Bruck also broke the school record in the 50 free. It was nice to see Clemson University sitting at 13th before the final event.”

The competition began with Clemson’s tenth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome of Bruck, Chris Reinke, Seth Broster and Chris Dart swam the race in a time of 1:17.76. That time shaves more than a second off of the school record that was set at February’s ACC Championships. It also earned the Tigers 14 points to begin the day.

Bruck’s leadoff split in the 200 freestyle relay of 19.42 seconds broke his own school record for the 50 freestyle. The sophomore also competed in that event individually, finishing in a tie for 14th place with a time of 19.67 seconds. That swim earned 2.5 points for Clemson.

Reinke also participated in the 50 freestyle, finishing with a preliminary time of 20.10 seconds — good enough for the school’s top ten list.

Friday’s action will include Broster competing in the 100 butterfly, Reinke swimming in the 200 freestyle, and Dart competing in the 100 backstroke. Preliminary trials will begin at 12 p.m., while finals will start at 7 p.m.