Men's swimmers widen lead at MIAC's

Mike Ludwig
February 20, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS - The St. Olaf men's swimming and diving team used a record-setting relay and two individual wins on Friday to increase its lead to 81 after the second of three days at the MIAC Championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.

The Oles set a school, meet and conference record with their 200 Medley Relay victory in 1:30.72, which is an NCAA "A" cut. Adam Meyer, Nelson Westby, Luke Money and Jake Koch swam on the relay which helped the Oles widen the gap between themselves and second place Gustavus.

Westby earned his individual win later in the session with his 55.33 in the 100 Breast.

The team's other win came from Koch, who won the 200 Free in a "B" cut 1:40.65.

Money and Erik Witzel earned "B" cut times with their third and fourth place swims in the 100 Fly.

Meyer, who was fifth in the 100 Fly, had an NCAA "A" cut swim with his 50.65 swim in the 100 Back. Teammate Luke Murrell picked up a "B" cut time with his fourth-place, 52.36 in the event.

Chris Bateman got the Oles' another "A" cut swim with his 3:55.94 and second place effort in the 400 IM. Bateman's time was just .24 off the winning pace and .25 off the conference and school record, held by St. Olaf head coach Bob Hauck.

Bateman, Nate Bentley, Koch and Westby swam on the team's second place 800 Free Relay squad, which picked up an NCAA "B" cut 6:47.86.

The Oles will seek their 25th title in school history tomorrow, in the event's final day.

Contact media relations specialist Mike Ludwig at (507) 786-3834 or ludwigm@stolaf.edu.