University of Denver
Colorado State Early Bird
Men's Swimming Finishes Second
10/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 19, 2002
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The University of Denver men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished close to where they started the second day of events at the 2002 Early Bird Invitational hosted by Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The men began and ended the day in second with 866 points and the women moved up one spot and finished fourth with 382 points.
Senior Chase Kelly (Littleton, Colo.) led the Pioneers with a brilliant performance in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing first with a time of 1:58.41. Kelly also helped Denver earn points by leading the 800-yard freestyle relay team to a second place finish (7:20.12) and the 200-yard medley relay team to a third place finish (1:39.13). Sophomore Caleb Johnson (Denver, Colo.) also swam well for Denver and contributed with his first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.80) and his second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (48.85).
Other top-five finishers for Denver were junior Greg Dontchos (Littleton, Colo.), freshman Brian Flaherty (Granite Bay, Calif.), senior Asaf Shachaf (Haifa, Israel), junior Ian Ivarson (San Rafel, Calif.), freshman Chris Seibert (El Paso, Texas), junior John Kolstoe (Fort Collins, Colo.), sophomore Nathan Chapman (Chesterfield, Calif.) and junior John Conyers (Lakewood, Colo.). Dontchos placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly (55.60), while Flaherty finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.77). Shachaf (1:07.07), Ivarson (1:01.65) and Seibert (1:02.26) placed third, fourth and fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.
Denver's depth helped the men's team earn points late in the afternoon with an third place finish by Kolstoe in the 1650-yard freestyle (17:34.77), Chapman's fifth place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.65) and Conyers' second place finish in the 3-meter diving event(275.35).
For the women, freshmen Michaela Amereller (Munich, Germany) paced the way again with here second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.49) and third place finish in the 200-yard backstroke (2:12.69). Other top-10 finishers were freshman Holly Leigh (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Lauren Miranda (Louisville, Colo.) and sophomore Katie Eisenhard (Brownsboro, Ala.). Leigh earned points with her sixth place finish in the 400-yard IM (4:45.01). Mirada placed 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.99) and Eisenhard finished sixth in both the 100-yard (1:02.54) and 200-yard (2:15.40) backstroke.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team was brilliant for the Pioneers with a second place finish (3:39.36).
The Pioneer women return to action next weekend when they travel to Las Cruces, N.M. for the Sun Belt Conference Dual Meet Invitational. The meet is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
WOMEN MENPlace School Points Place School Points1. Colorado State 1,273 1. Wyoming 1,130.502. Wyoming 756 2. DENVER 8663. New Mexico 726 3. CMS 5264. DENVER 382 4. Metro 5095. Northern Colorado 359 5. Colorado 430.506. CMS 1477. Air Force 878. Colorado 779. Metro 16
