University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Big East Championships: Men's Sprint Freestyle
2/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Big East Championships: Men's Sprint Freestyle
2/12/2003
PITTSBURGH ? Reaching its goal of a seventh consecutive Big East title will be a difficult task but one that the men's swimming and diving team is determined to succeed in.
The three-day event will take place on Long Island, N.Y., from Feb. 20-22, and this is the first of seven preview articles on the meet.
Sprint Freestyle
Traditionally a strong group of events for the Panthers' men's swimming team, the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle races have been getting closer but senior Mike Grube (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) is the favorite in two of the three and has a good chance of completing the sweep if he swims in each of the races.
Grube is currently ranked third in the Big East in the 50 freestyle, which will be swum on Thursday, Feb. 20. He won last year's 50 free with a time of 20.03 seconds and holds the team and Big East record with a time of 19.87 at the 2001 Big East Championships. Last year's second-place finisher, Matt Campbell of Rutgers, is ranked ahead of Grube this year in second with a time of 20.24 seconds. Topping this year's list is Virginia Tech's Chris Lindberg with a time of 20.20 seconds at the Nike Cup.
Six other Panthers have qualified for the 50 freestyle, including freshman Darryl Washington (Aldan, Pa./Penn Wood), Tommy Bird (Charleston, W.Va./Capital), Adam Webber (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), Raymond Brush (Katy, Texas/Katy/Nebraska), Michael Bernardi (Middlesex, N.J./Middlesex), and Eric Bugby (Easton, Pa./Notre Dame). Of the 30 individuals that have qualified for the 50 free, seven are from Pittsburgh and seven are from Virginia Tech.
Pittsburgh swept the top three places in last year's 100 freestyle and have the top two times going into the Saturday final this season. Grube is tops in the conference with a time of 44.37 seconds in the 2002 Pittsburgh Invitational and is followed by Washington with a time of 44.93 seconds. Both times are NCAA B-cuts, the only ones in the Big East this season. Campbell is the conference's third-ranked 100 free swimmer with a time of 45.21 seconds.
Other Pittsburgh qualifiers include Brush (45.96), Stephen Kilroy (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) (46.44), Michael Hand (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) (46.71), Bugby (46.76), Webber (46.79) and Andrew Patrizzi (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) (46.92).
Friday's 200 freestyle also has a returning champion in the starting blocks. Kleyton Franca of West Virginia won last year's race with a time of 1:37.36, followed by three Panthers, including Webber (third) and Grube (fourth). This season, Grube is the conference's top ranked 200 free swimmer with a time of 1:38.94, an NCAA B-cut. St. John's Marcel Filipowicz is second with a time of 1:39.82 and Franca is currently third at 1:40.13.
Webber is in seventh place with a time of 1:40.66 at the 2002 Christmas Meet Invitational and Ken Shelhorse (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) is right behind in eighth place with a time of 1:40.71. Also qualifying for the 200 free were Washington (1:41.10) and Bird (1:42.58).
Tomorrow's Preview: Distance Freestyle
