Dec. 5, 2005

Chicago, Ill.- Members of the UIC swimming and diving team returned to the Windy City on Sunday after representing the Flames in stellar fashion among the world's elite at the 2005 U.S. Open in Auburn, Ala.

The Flames concluded the day with a seventh place finish in the men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay, as LeRoy Stevens, Bill Hare, Athanasios Lamprou and Blake Booher teamed up to post a 3:33.32 that was less than a second behind fifth-place finisher and 2005 national champion Auburn (3:32.83).

The UIC women's team was strong, as Kelly Hyatt, Emily Biancalana, Aisha Williams and Colleen Dougherty swam a 4:09.44 in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, taking 15th place overall.

The men's 4x100 meter medley relay took 11th place as Hare, Stefan Staev, Lamprou and Stevens swam a 4:01.53.

In combined team scoring, the Flames placed 10th out of 18 national aquatic clubs. The UIC men's team took an impressive 8th out of 44 teams.

Booher's 50-meter freestyle time of 23.70 was a U.S. National Qualifying mark.