Minnesota’s ninth-ranked men’s swimming and diving team compiled 1201.50 points for a first-place finish at the Georgia Invitational in Athens, Ga. Minnesota’s closest competition was host institution Georgia, which had 1185 points.
Minnesota’s first competition Sunday was the 1650-yard freestyle event, in which Travis Beckerle finished second overall, earning 17 points. Beckerle added a time of 15:23.32, which provisionally qualified him for the NCAA championships. David Moulder added a fourth-place showing in the event, clocking a time of 15:42.20, while Adam Apprill finished ninth overall.
Minnesota added a one-two punch in the 200 back event, placing two in the first and second spots. Adam Mitchell won the event with a provisional qualifying time of 1:57.33. Diego Urreta ended the event second also with a provisional time of 1:58.15. Combined, the duo added 37 points in one race for Minnesota.
The Gophers added another first-place finish to their list when Terry Silkaitis won the 100 free event. Silkaitis chipped a provisional qualifying time of 49.60 and added another 20 points to Minnesota’s score. Neil Osten finished third in 50.24, while Sean McCaffrey finished in a tie for sixth in 50.92.
Four Gophers made it to the 200 breaststroke ‘A’ final. Ryan Plummer led the way for Minnesota, finishing third in 2:15.89. Freshman Alejandro Jacobo was right behind Plummer with a fourth-place showing finishing the race in 2:17.79. Nathan Bernier and Sean Kelly added sixth- and seventh-place finishes ending the race in time of 2:18.46 and 2:18.63, respectively.
The Gophers also had three make it to the 200 fly ‘A’ final. Lucas Peterson finished fourth overall, while Scott Young finished seventh and Zach Wood finished eighth.
In the diving pool, Ben Herdt led Minnesota with a fourth-place finish in the platform event.
Women third
Minnesota’s women’s swimming and diving team finished the Georgia Invitational in third place Georgia won the women’s event with an overall score of 1454, while Penn State edged out Minnesota for the second spot with 841. The Gophers had 836.50 for the three-day total.
Rebecca Cornthwaite won the platform diving competition earning 20 points for Minnesota. Cornthwaite had a score of 426.50, while freshman Holly Jakits finished fourth with a score of 392.85.
The Gophers placed three in the 200 breaststroke finals. Leading the way for Minnesota was Melissa Schold, who finished fifth overall in 2:34.48. Abby Ruess added a time of 2:36.86 finishing seventh, while Carol Crouthmamel placed eighth overall in 2:38.49.
Megan Moore clocked a time of 2:16.69 for a fifth-place finish, while Katie Wind added a seventh-place mark in 2:20.62.
Katy Coombe and Kate Hardt represented Minnesota in the 100 free placing fifth and seventh overall. Coombe added a provisional qualifying time of 56.11, while Hardt chipped in a provisional time of 56.66. However, Georgia’s Kara Joyce added an automatic qualifying time of 55.03 to win the event.
