Feb. 21, 2010

The Florida Atlantic University men's swimming and diving team recorded its best showing in the Sun Belt Conference Championships, finishing fourth in the four-day event at Nashville, Tenn.

The Owls tallied 490 points in a variety of swimming and diving events throughout the meet. Western Kentucky University won the conference title with 916.5 points, edging out the University of Denver (857.5). The University of New Orleans had 644 points for third.

Sophomore Mikolaj Czarnecki broke his school record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships with a winning time of 1:47.00 in the 200-yard butterfly. He won the race by one second and improved his time by nearly three seconds from the preliminary round race.

Junior Michael Shimansky finished third in the 1,650-yard freestyle race (15:46.73) to add 16 valuable points to the Owls' total. He set the school record in this event during last year's SBC championships. Sophomore Rick Duran placed fifth and junior Rafael Pena also earned a top 10 showing in the distance race.

Sophomore Csaba Pek was seventh in the 200-yard backstroke (1:49.76) on Saturday, and had third-place finishes in the 400-yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle earlier in the meet. He also was a member of the 800-yard freestyle relay team that placed fourth - capping off a successful conference meet.

In diving, sophomore Andrew Scully finished seventh from the 1-meter board, tallying 265.50 points from the judges. He also was FAU's highest finisher in the 3-meter event with a fourth-place showing (287.75 points).

The NCAA championships are set for March 25 and FAU's provisionally qualifying swimmers will have to wait to see if their times are good enough to be invited. The Owls will also team members competing in the Diving Zones on March 5.

*************************** (Women's Recap)

The Florida Atlantic University women's swimming and diving team concluded the Sun Belt Conference Championships with a strong fourth place showing over the four-day event in Nashville, Tenn.

The Owls recorded 352 points in the meet and held off a late charge from the University of New Orleans to earn fourth place by 12 points. Western Kentucky University won the conference title with 821 points. The University of Denver finished second (746) and the University of North Texas was third (701).

FAU was led by standout freshman Eszter Bucz, who had a runner-up finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.15). The Budapest, Hungary native had an outstanding first championships, setting school records in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.30) and 400-yard individual medley (4:20.31). She also a member of four relay teams that recorded top five finishes.

Sophomore Jonna Nyback also contributed mightily to the Owls strong conference showing. She had a runner-up showing in Saturday's 100-yard freestyle event (50.87 seconds), which improved her preliminary round time by nearly a half of a second. The Koping, Sweden native also posted a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, a seventh place showing in the 50-yard freestyle and helped the 400-yard freestyle relay team finish fourth. Other team members included sophomore Elizabeth Starke, senior Emilienne Allen and Bucz.

Sophomore Erin Hersey placed 10th in Saturday's 200-yard butterfly final race.