Tigers Swimming Notes

March 11, 1998

National Rankings— Speedo America’s College Swimming Coaches Association Top 25 Coaches Poll has the Lady Tigers ranked #20, as the men enter the rankings in 36th position in their latest poll released February 26.

Making Their Mark— Clemson holds eight of the fastest times in the country according to the College Swimmming Coaches Association of America’s College Quick 25final release. Three of these times consist of relays, while the other five are individual top times. Erin Schatz holds a total of three individual times on the list, as well as being a member of one of the relays.

NCAA Qualifiers--The Tigers have a total of 15 swimmers going to the NCAA Championships, which are held March 19-21 (women) and 26-28 (men) at Minneapolis, MN and Auburn, AL.

Razvan Petcu will be competing in three events, the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay.

Jennifer Mihalik will be competing in eight events, five individual and three relays.The events are the 50 freestyle, 100 freetsyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay.

Wendy Henson, Charli Reasons and Erin Schatz each qualified for five events. Diver Besty Potter quailifed for both diving board competitions, the one-meter and three-meter board.

Lady Tigers at Bulldog Invitational–In an effort to get last chance qualification times for the NCAA, the Lady Tigers only posted personal best times. Kasia Gawronska had a great day with times of 59.28 in the 100-yard backstroke and 1:06.48 in the 200-yard backstroke.

Teammate Leslie Anderson grabbed a 24.34 in the 50 freestyle. Anderson is also a member of the 200-yard medley relay, along with Kathy Lowry, Amy Suppinger and Charli Reasons that claimed the third fastest time of the season with a 1:46.81.

Tigers Finish Sixth at ACC Championships— The men finished sixth with 298 points, as the North Carolina TarHeels totaled 735.5 points to win the ACC Champioship the sixth year in a row. Virginia placed second (690), Florida State in third with 587.5 points and N.C. State escaped with 502.5 points to take fourth. Maryland was fifth (359) as Georgia Tech followed Clemson with 156.5 points to take seventh place and Duke last with 130 points.

Freshman Razvan Petcu broke the UVa Aquatic and Fitness Center pool record with NCAA Division 1 “B” Standard qualifying time of 43.82 in the 100-yards freestyle, the best in Clemson history. Petcu is the only individual Tiger qualifier for the NCAA Division 1 Championships. Petcu qualified in the 100 butterfly (47.99) and 50 freestyle (20.11), both NCAA Division 1 Consideration Standard times and best in Clemson history.

Razvan is also a member of the 200 medley relay that finished sixth with a time of 1:30.88, the best in Clemson history. The relay also consisted of Mike Pridemore, Alejandro Dubreuil and Tim Collis.

The 200 freestyle relay, (Razvan Petcu, Mike Pridemore, Tim Collis, Sean Stockton) placed fourth in the event, but grabbed a season best time of 1:21.48. It also placed them second on the Clemson All-Time Top 10 list.

The 400 medley relay (Tim Collis, Alejandro Dubreuil, Razvan Petcu, Mike Pridemore) placed fourth with a time of 3:20.51, which was a season best for the Tigers.

The 800 freestyle relay (Will York, John Dunham, Rob Etheridge, Drew Gessert) grabbed a season best time of 6:47.67.

Tigers Produce Personal Best Times— The ACC Championships produced several individual top times. Mike Pridemore finished ninth in the 100-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 45.47, second best time of the season. Mike Pridemore moved from the ninth position on the Clemson’s All-Time Top 10 list to fourth with a 20.53 time in the 50 freestyle.

Sasha Novozhilov had a personal best in the 100-yard freestyle with a 47.27 time.

Will York had the second best time of the season of 1:50.66 in the 200-yard backstroke and 4:38.13 in the 500 freestyle.

P.J. Olson had a personal best of 1:51.97, as teammate Rob Etheridge also had a personal best of 1:52.66 in the 200-yard backstroke.

Scott Ayer had a personal best of 1:56.58 in the 200 individual medley.

The 200-yard breaststroke gave Alejandro Dubreuil the team’s second best time of 2:07.27.Dubreuil followed with his personal best and second season best time of 57.68, landing him the 10th best time in Clemson history.

Tim Collis moved into second place on Clemson’s All-Time Top 10 list with a time of 1:49.03, the season’s best in the 200-yard backstroke. Collis also moved into third place on the Clemson All-Time Top 10 list in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.16.

Adam Porter moved from 10th to seventh place on Clemson’s All-Time Top 10 list with a time of 1:50.74.

Dan Hoeller had a personal and season best in the 100 breaststroke (57.51) and 200 breastroke (2:06.93). The 200 breaststroke time is the best of the season.