April 10, 2006

SHANGHAI, China -- Northwestern juniors Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) competed at the Eighth Annual FINA Short Course World Championships held April 5-9 in Shanghai, China, with Grevers winning a pair of medals for the U.S. team.

Grevers picked up a silver as a member of the 4 x 100 medley relay. He swam the fly leg during the preliminary heat, in which his squad finished eighth with a time of 3:36.24. Grevers did not swim in the finals, where the team ended up second.

Grevers earned bronze with the 4 x 100 free relay, swimming a blazing 47.47 second leg during the United States' third-place finish in the prelims. The squad remained third after the finals, swimming a 3:11.92.

Individually, Grevers swam in four events, advancing to the semifinals in all four and the finals in the 100 back and the 100 IM.

In the 100 back, Grevers finished second during the prelims with a 52.12, then was sixth in the semis with a 52.15. He ended up seventh in the events, swimming a 52.20 in the finals.

Grevers also qualified second during prelims in the 100 IM, turning in a 54.54. He was fifth in the semis with a 54.56 and again ended up seventh with a 54.28 in the finals.

In the 50 back, Grevers qualified third during the prelims with a 24.07 before placing 12th in the semis with a 24.64. In the 50 fly, he was fifth during prelims with a 23.56 and 13th in the semis with a 23.92.

Fellow Northwestern junior Alexandrov swam at the meet for his native Bulgaria, making two final heats in the three breaststroke events.

In the 200 breast, Alexandrov finished third in the prelims with a 2:08.59. He ended up just out of the medals with a fourth-place time of 2:08.67 during the finals of the event.

Alexandrov finished eighth during prelims for the 50 breast with a 27.59. He moved on to the finals with a sixth-place 27.33 in the semis, ending up in seventh place with a 27.44 in the championship heat.

Alexandrov was 12th during prelims of the 100 breast, turning in a 59.99. He ended up 11th during the semis with a 59.68.

Alexandrov was an Olympian for Bulgaria in 2004 at the Athens Games.

For complete results from the Championships, link to Fina.org.