Syracuse Sends 22 Members of Its Swimming and Diving Team To the BIG EAST Championship
2/14/2001 4:22:23 PM | Swimming / Diving
Thirteen Orangewomen qualified for this year's championship, including the team’s two female divers, senior Sara Mastropole (Milford, CT) and sophomore Julie Van Deusen (Bear, DE). Hopes are high for senior sprinter Eleanor Thoet (Bath, ME) and SU’s talented freshman class, led by Annie Tudryn (Springfield, MA) who set the school record and an NCAA B-qualifying time in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.33) earlier in the year. The other Orangewomen who will be competing at this year’s championship are: junior Kelly Bryon (Uxbridge, Ontario) - distance, freshman Megan Daney (Newtown, PA) - backstroke, sophomore Jennifer Jonusaitis (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) - breaststroke/butterfly, freshman Kalei Mahi (Salinas, CA) - breaststroke/individual medley, freshman Elyse McDonough (Delmar, NY) - freestyle/individual medley/butterfly, senior Mindy Morse (Marble Dale, CT) - backstroke/individual medley, senior Tara Nelson (Westport, CT) - backstroke/butterfly, freshman Melissa Plummer (Newark, DE) - breaststroke/individual medley and junior Renee Sheppard (Piedmont, CA) - butterfly/freestyle.
Nine Orangemen qualified for this year’s BIG EAST Championship, including the team’s lone male diver, senior Adam Earle (Camillus, NY). The standouts on the men's side include senior Josko Vucetic (Split, Croatia), defending champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke and one of the nation's top 25 backstrokers. Junior Djordje Filipovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) was the champion in the 200 butterfly and the 200 IM a year ago. He will swim in the 200 IM and the 400 medley relay on the first day. On Friday, he will swim in the 100 butterfly and the 800 freestyle relay. The last day he will swim in the 200 butterfly and the 400 freestyle relay.
Filipovic competed in the preliminaries of the 200 IM for his native Yugoslavia in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"Last year I won two golds and one silver, that third gold slipped from my hands," said Filipovic. "This year I don't want to say I'm going to win all three events because the competition is tough. Certainly I will try to win all three golds. I think my chances are good in the 200 IM and the 200 fly. In the 100 fly there are some swimmers from Pittsburgh and St. John's that will make the race more interesting. My goal is to set a BIG EAST record. Last year I was seven-hundredths of a second slower than a record."
Other swimmers competing for Syracuse this week will be senior Dave Hanthorn (Manheim, PA) - butterfly/freestyle, sophomore Benjamin Henri (Canberra, Australia) - freestyle/butterfly, senior Ilia Mikhailov (Alta, Sweden) - breaststroke, freshman Spencer Raymond (Idstein, Germany) - freestyle, senior Dustin Riley (Carson City, MV) - individual medley/breaststroke/butterfly, and sophomore Nir Tobis (Haifa, Israel) - backstroke/freestyle/individual medley.
The SU men last won the BIG EAST championship in 1995-96. The Orangewomen have never won a conference championship.
2001 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championship Schedule of Events
Thursday, February 15, 2001 Prelims: 10:30 a.m.; Finals: 6:30 p.m. Women’s 200-yard freestyle relay** Men’s 200-yard freestyle relay** Men’s 1-meter Diving Final+ Women’s 500-yard freestyle Men’s 500-yard freestyle Women’s 200 individual medley Men’s 200 individual medley Women’s 50-yard freestyle Men’s 50-yard freestyle Women’s 3-meter Diving Final Women’s 400-yard medley relay** Men’s 400-yard medley relay**
Friday, February 16, 2001 Prelims: 10:30 a.m.; Finals: 6:30 p.m. Women’s 200-yard medley relay** Men’s 200-yard medley relay** Women’s 1-meter Diving Final+ Women’s 400 individual medley Men’s 400 individual medley Women’s 100-yard butterfly Men’s 100-yard butterfly Women’s 200-yard freestyle Men’s 200-yard freestyle Women’s 100-yard breaststroke Men’s 100-yard breaststroke Women’s 100-yard backstroke Men’s 100-yard backstroke Men’s 3-meter Diving Women’s 800-yard freestyle relay** Men’s 800-yard freestyle relay**
Saturday, February 17, 2001 Prelims: 10:30 a.m.; Finals: 6:30 p.m. Women’s 1,650-yard freestyle* Men’s 1,650-yard freetyle* Women’s 200-yard backstroke Men’s 200-yard backstroke Women’s 100-yard freestyle Men’s 100-yard freestyle Women’s 200-yard breaststroke Men’s 200-yard breaststroke Women’s 200-yard butterfly Men’s 200-yard butterfly -- Platform diving (non-scoring) @ -- Women’s 400-yard freestyle relay** Men’s 400-yard freestyle relay**
+The 1-meter diving prelims will begin at noon on Thursday, February 15 and Friday, February 16.
@ The start time of the non-scoring platform diving prelims will be determined by number of entrants in the event. The diving referee will communicate to the coaches the exact start time of the non-scoring platform diving prelims no later than 24 hours prior to the start of the event.
* The 1,650-yard freestyle is a timed final event. Qualifying times must be 1,650-yard times - times based on 1,000-yard freestyle may not be used. The two fastest heats (men’s and women’s) will be swum at the beginning of finals. The remaining heats will begin prior to the start of the finals session (backed up from a 5:30 p.m. warm-up time, depending on the number of heats).
** All relays are timed final events in the evening program. If applicable, the six (6) slowest seeded team relays will swim in heat one, and the eight (8) fastest seeded team relays will swim in heat two.
