Nov. 20, 2010
By Wes Todd
Assistant Media Relations Director
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Sophomore Michael Flach earned his third NCAA `B’ cut time of the week in the 200-yard butterfly and advanced to his third championship final of the week on Saturday morning at the Nike Cup Invitational.
Flach posted a time of 1:46.64, nearly a second and a half under the NCAA provisional standard, to finish second in the preliminaries and earn a berth in the championship final. Flach has already won the 200 and 500 freestyle this week and looks to make it a third victory tonight.
Sophomores Bobby Cave and Collin Kaden both earned their way into the championship final of the 200 breaststroke with Cave clocking a 2:01.55 and Kaden went 2:04.57 to finish fifth and eighth, respectively. Ryan Connolly took 12th with a 2:07.52.
Junior Chris Kelly finished second in 200 backstroke prelims, posting a 1:49.20 to advance to the championship finals; classmate James Crawford was close behind in third place with a 1:49.94. Freshman Jay Warner earned his way into the C-final with a 1:55.64. In the 100 freestyle, freshman Gerard Rodriguez earned a spot in the championship final with a 45.56 to finish eighth in prelims; Andrew Seiler will swim the C-final after a 46.71.
On the women’s side, senior Megan Sparks posted a 2:01.47 in the 200 backstroke to clinch a spot in tonight’s championship final, and freshman Lauren Rosenberg (2:02.68) and sophomore Haley Staubach (2:04.17) earned their way into the B-final. Freshman Lauren Raczkowski will swim the C-final after a 2:05.53.
Senior Bridget Halligan swam a 51.15 in the 100 freestyle to finish fifth and advance to the championship final, and Raczkowski went 53.01 to make the C-final. Freshman Amanda Rutqvist turned in a 2:16.28 to make the A-final in the 200 breaststroke, and Rachael Schaffer advanced to the B-final with a 2:19.65. In the 200 butterfly, Whitney Avers (2:04.97) and Lindsey Olson (2:06.54) advanced to the B-final and C-final, respectively.
Timed finals in the 1650 freestyle will begin mid-afternoon, and the bulk of finals get underway at 6 p.m. with live results available through TarHeelBlue.com.
