Feb. 27, 2009
BOSTON - Navy received record-setting victories from junior James Lascara (Charlotte, N.C.) and its men's 200 freestyle relay squad to highlight a very strong opening day performance on Friday at the 2009 ECAC Open Swimming & Diving Championships held at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool.
Following the first day of competition, the Navy men sit atop the 19-team field with 211 points, 12 points ahead of the host Crimson. Meanwhile, the Midshipmen women are currently in fifth out of 23 teams with 106 points.
"We had a pretty good day," said Navy men's head coach Bill Roberts. "We were very happy with how we came out of the morning. We positioned ourselves really well to score some points tonight and that's just what we did. We have two more days in front of us and a lot of swimming to go and we are looking forward to it."
Lascara led a strong Navy effort in the 500 free, setting a new meet standard in winning the event in 4:23.15. His effort topped the mark of 4:24.07, previously set by Central Connecticut State's Dominik Matuzewicz at the 2000 meet. It also ranks as the third-fastest mark recorded in school history.
The Charlotte native was one of four Navy finalists in the event, as the Mids scored with third (Will Norton - 4:29.97), fifth (Adam Calloway - 4:32.12) and seventh-place (Andrew Mays - 4:43.94) finishes.
In the 200 free relay, the men's quartet of Andrew Blazuk (So., Seminole, Fla.), Alex Buck (So., Lisle, Ill.), Frank Komadina (Jr., Gilbert, Ariz.) and Preston Mihalko (Sr., Chesapeake, Va.) teamed up to take down a 17-year old meet record (1:23.02) previously set by the University at Buffalo in 1992. The foursome initially eclipsed the standard with a prelim clocking of 1:22.11, but later would return to best that mark during the evening finals with a winning time of 1:21.54.
Buck and Mihalko both also contributed in the 50 free, taking second and third-place in 20.56 and 20.67, respectively. Komadina was also a finalist in the event taking eighth in 21.22, while Blazuk and Marshall Daniels (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) went 1-2 in the consolation heat, recording times of 20.99 and 21.15.
On the women's side, Thuy Mi Dinh (Jr., Anaheim, Calif.) earned the Mids' top finish with a runner-up effort in the 50 free. Dinh touched just .05 seconds off the pace set by New Hampshire's Jessie Ellisalcaide (23.30), with a second-place time of 23.35.
In the 200 individual medley, Navy's Tessa Snow (So., Hamlin, N.Y.) took fourth in 2:07.00, while in the 500 freestyle, Erika Hubbard (Sr., Madison, Wis.) shaved more than three seconds off her morning prelim time (5:06.31) to capture the consolation final in 5:03.20.
A full slate of competition resumes on Saturday morning, beginning at 10:00 am.
### GO NAVY! ###
