Husker Relays Qualify for Consolation Finals on First Day of NCAA Championships

Indianapolis, Ind. - Nebraska's 400-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays each qualified for the consolation finals as the 1999 NCAA Championships got underway at the IUPIU Natatorium on Thursday.

Nebraska's 400-yard medley relay team of David Foster (Lincoln, Neb.), Valery Kalmikovs (Riga, Lativa), Adam Pine (Ballina, Australia) and Anthony Rogis (Weetangera, Australia) posted the tenth-fastest preliminary mark with a time of 3:14.81, the second-fastest time in NU history. Stanford posted the fastest morning swim with a time of 3:11.71.

The 200-yard freestyle relay squad of Pine, Josh Mathias (Mundelein, Ill.), Rogis and Javier Botello (Madrid, Spain) recorded the 16th-fastest preliminary mark with a time of 1:20.23. Auburn established a new NCAA and U.S. Open record, completing the race in a time of 1:16.50.

Despite failing to qualify for the finals, junior Michael Windisch (Pretoria, South Africa) bettered his own school record in the 500-yard freestyle, completing the race in a time of 4:23.00, the eighteenth-fastest mark in the preliminaries. The old record of 4:23.82 was established by Windisch at the 1997 Big 12 Championships. Chris Thompson of Michigan posted the fastest preliminary time with a swim of 4:16.58.

The 50-yard freestyle preliminaries made history as the fastest field ever in NCAA competition. Twenty-two different athletes bettered the 20-second barrier, while the it took a time of 19.61 to qualify for the championship final, and a mark of 19.86 to qualify for the consolation finals. Junior Adam Pine (Ballina, Australia), posted a time of 19.97 (third all-time at NU), placing 20th.

Thursday night finals begin at 6 p.m. CST.

Results: Thursday Preliminaries (Top Eight; Nebraska Finishers)
200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Auburn (Ciarla, Hawke, Newman, Busbee), 1:16.50 (NCAA record, U.S. Open record), 2. Stanford, 1:18.06 (Wales, Robinson, Counts, Ewers), 1:18.06; 3. California (Lindstrom, Morre, Kizierowski, Macedo), 1:18.28; 4. Arizona (Schoeman, Stickels, Henikman, Schryver), 1:18.63; 5. Texas A&M (Morrow, Kappler, Colligan, Mansour), 1:18.73; 6. Florida State (Dedekind, Santos, Flanagan, McVittie), 1:18.77; 7. Arizona State (Abal, VonSchoff, MacDonald, Sanchez), 1:19.04; 8. Texas (Jones, Crawford, Urlrickson, Laitala), 1:19.05; 16. Nebraska (Pine, Mathias, Rogis, Botello), 1:20.23.

500-yard freestyle: 1. Chris Thompson, Michigan, 4:16.58; 2. Bela Szabados, Southern Cal, 4:17.52; 3. Ryk Neethling, Arizona, 4:17.97; 4. Nat Lewis, Arizona, 4:18.52; 5. Jon Younghouse, 4:18.71; 6. Tom Malchow, 4:19.34; 7. Scott Goldblatt, Texas, 4:19.80; 8. Tim Siciliano, Michigan, 4:19.95; 18. Michael Windisch, Nebraska, 4:23.00 (NU record).

200-yard individual medley: 1. Lionel Moreau, Auburn, 1:45.03; 2. Nate Dusing, Texas, 1:46.11; 3. Michael Bartz, 1:46.25; 4. Jan Vitazka, Cincinnati, 1:46.68; 5. Joe Montague, Texas, 1:46.78; 6. Glenn Counts, Stanford, 1:47.13; 7. Zane Dewitz, Tennessee, 1:47.29; 8. Nuk Sirisanont, California, 1:47.37; 30. Valery Kalmikovs, Nebraska, 1:49.20 (fifth all-time at NU).

50-yard freestyle: 1. Aaron Ciarla, Auburn, 19.43; 2. Bart Kizierowski, California, 19.51; 3. Roland Choeman, Arizona, 19.52; 4. Brendon Dedekind, Florida State, 19.53; 5. (tie) Brett Hawke, Auburn, 19.58; Anthony Robinson, Stanford, 19.58; 7. Brock Newman, 19.59; 8. Francisco Sanchez, Arizona State, 19.61; 20. Adam Pine, Nebraska, 19.97.

400-yard medley relay: 1. Stanford (Blahnik, Holden, Wales, Ewers), 3:11.71; 2. Southern California (Costa, Imai, Williams, Woodward), 3:12.26; 3. California (Kozulj, Chan, Lindstrom, Kizierowski), 3:12.26; 4. Auburn (Karr, Denniston, Quevedo, Newman), 3:12.77; 5. Texas (Urlrickson, Livingston, Dusing, Jones), 3:13.02; 6. Tennessee (Gilliam, McDonnell, Shapiro, Powells), 3:13.25; 7. Arizona (Allen, Henikman, Anderson, Schryver), 3:13.27; 8. Virginia (Pietucha, Moses, Finch, Ramirez), 3:14.42; 10. Nebraska (Foster, Kalmikovs, Pine, Rogis), 3:14.81.