Dec. 18, 2004

Results

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The University of Denver men and women's swimming and diving teams finished the Florida Atlantic Invitational, 1-1 and 1-2 respectively in the dual style invitational this afternoon in Boca Raton, Fla. Freshman Kelsey Totura (Castle Rock, Colo.) and sophomore Craig Jollands (Hillcrest, South Africa) both had two first-place finishes, while sophomore Derek Shaw (Centennial, Colo.) added another.

The women recorded a 152-146 win against Sun Belt Conference foe host Florida Atlantic University (FAU), but fell to both Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams Ohio State and Clemson 183-117 and 151-137, respectively. The men also beat FAU 170-127, but lost to Clemson, 180-114. This was Denver's first look at FAU. The next time these two teams will meet will be at the Sun Belt Conference Championship in Little Rock, Ark., in February. FAU is the only Sun Belt opponent the Pioneers will face in the regular season.

Totura highlighted the day for the women with her sweep of the backstroke events, first in the 100-yard backstroke (59.20). This individual win was also Denver's first of the day. Totura later won the 200-yard backstroke (2:05.48) to complete the sweep. She also added a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (25.11) to end her afternoon.

Sophomore Harmony Zeller (Arvada, Colo.), also contributed for the Pioneers with her performance in the distance freestyle events. She claimed two, third-place finishes in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:26.54) and 500-yard freestyle (5:05.35)

For the men, Jollands shined again with his two-first place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke (1:55.55) and 500-yard freestyle (4:37.50). Shaw added the other first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (1:56.72). Freshman Matt Diotte (Auburn, Wash.) recorded back-to-back second place finishes in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, with times of 21.55 and 47.41, respectively. In the 50-yard freestyle, Diotte finished just two tenths of a second behind Clemson's Mark Vahle.

The Pioneers return to action in the next year in 2005 when the face Metro State and Colorado in El Pomar Natatorium on Jan. 14, at 4:30 p.m.

Team ScoresMenClemson 217, FAU 83Denver 170, FAU 127Clemson 180, Denver 114
WomenClemson 202, FAU 98Denver 152, FAU 146OSU 151, Denver 137Clemson 183, Denver 117