Jan. 31, 2003

Final Stats

Miami's men's swimming and diving team won their first Mid-American Conference meet this season in the senior's final meet at Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center by knocking off rival, Ohio University, 146-89.

The RedHawks took control from the beginning with a victory in the first event of the evening, the 400-yard medley relay. Sophomore John Grubb (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville), juniors Paul Jacob (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) and Andrew Keefe (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) and senior Dave Bergan (Cincinnati, Ohio/Princeton) took the relay by over three seconds for the first win.

The next first-place finish came when senior Kelly Ball (Granger, Ind./Penn) dominated the 200-yard freestyle field with a time of 1:41.55 and freshman Pat Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) placing second for the top-two places.

Miami kept the heat on when Bergan won his second race of the evening by touching the wall in 0:21.81 for the sprint victory in the 50-yard freestyle. Freshman Aaron Wuensch (Allen, Texas/Plano East) added more points for the Red and White when he placed second in 0:21.97.

In the third consecutive event, Miami placed first and second when seniors Andy Norr (Schoolcraft, Mich./Portage Central) and Jeremy Salomon (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Cleveland Orange) took the top spots in the 400-yard IM in times of 4:11.05 and 4:17.71, respectively.

Keefe and Wuensch kept the Miami trend with first and second-place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly and times of 0:50.95 and 0:51.83 in the seventh event of the evening.

Bergan made quite a statement in his last swim at Miami by winning the 100-yard freestyle in 0:48.18. Freshmen Brian O'Rourke (Beverly Hills, Michigan/Groves) and Carroll took the next two spots to capture the first, second and third.

Sophomore Jason Krasula (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) and Grubb kept the points coming for the Red and White with 0:53.40 and 0:54.21 times to touch the wall first and second.

Ball followed Bergan in winning his second race in his Miami finale with a time of 4:39.82. Fellow senior, Norr, was right behind Ball for second place.

Sophomore Peter Donohue (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) won the one-meter diving event to extend his winning streak that started on Nov. 16 and knock off Ohio diver Robert Krichbaum, who beat him in last year's MAC tournament.

Jacob took the 12th event of the night by touching the wall in 1:00.39 in the 100-yard breaststroke.

To finish the evening, Keefe, O'Rourke, Norr and Ball capped the win by swimming the 800-yard freestyle in 7:05.52.

With the win, Miami takes a 10-4 lead in the year-long contest between Ohio and Miami called "The Battle of the Bricks," heading into Saturday's women's meet over the Bobcats. Each time the Bobcats and RedHawks meet in varsity athletic competition, the outcome is counted as part of the year's series, including tournament play. Seventeen of Miami's 20 varsity sports are part of the year-long rivalry series.