INDIANAPOLIS, IN – For the second
consecutive year junior Paul Dyrkacz
took home the 400 IM title. Dyrkacz advanced to the finals of the
400 IM with a 6th place morning swim in 3:56.95, well
off his 2011 winning time of 3:52.97. Dyrkacz placed
7th in the morning prelims in the event in 2011.
Swimming out of lane seven was not an obstacle for a determined
Dyrkacz in the night final as he stayed close to the early leaders,
but threw down a back half of the breaststroke that was impressive
to see and rolled to his second 400 IM NCAA title. Clocked in
3:51.90, Dyrkacz won by over two seconds.
The Ephs earned a spot in the night's finals of the 200 free
relay when the quartet of Tom Vieth, Paul
Dyrkacz, Alexander
Nanda, and Daeus Jorento
finished 8th in 1:22.77, which was .78 off their seed
time. The Ephs duplicated their 8th place finish in the
night finals finishing in 1:23.36.
Thad
Ricotta earned a spot in the evening consolation finals of the
100 butterfly with a 15th place finish in the prelims
clocking a 49.95, which was .30 faster than his seed time. In the
evening consolation finals Ricotta finished in 50.55 and in
8th place.
Junior Tom Vieth clipped .10 off his seed time in the 200
freestyle and finished fourth in the morning prelims with a time of
1:38.81 to advance to the night's championship final. Vieth in the
finals posted a time of 1:39.44 and finished 6th.
The Eph 400 medley relay earned a spot in consolation finals
when their time of 3:22.37 that placed them in ninth. Representing
the Ephs were David Taylor,
Paul Dyrkacz, Thad Ricotta and anchor Tom Vieth. In the night's
final event the 400 medley relay the Ephs were second in the
consolation finals clocking a 3:21.59, just behind Staten
Island.
After two of the four days of competition the Ephs have 112
points and that puts them in 7th place. The Ephs are three
points out of sixth, which is held by Wisconsin-Stevens Point
(115). Denison leads the championships with 290 points, just three
more than Kenyon.
Comments from head coach
Steve Kuster:
“The men did some really good things today. The
morning 200 free relay getting into the finals allowed us to save
Paul Dyrkacz so he would be stronger for the 400 IM at night and
that worked out well for both.
It was nice to see Tom Vieth post a best in the morning
200 free and to make his first final and swam well.
Thad Ricotta was strong in the morning going under 50
for the first time in the 100 butterfly.
The 400 medley relay was 10th, but they broke the
school record by over a half second. I think DJ Taylor getting out
fast was key there.
Paul's [Dyrkacz] 400 IM was just a great swim. He
knew he needed to get out fast and that along with his breaststroke
splits that were amazing was great to see. There's just no
other way to say it – that was a great swim.
Overall it was a pretty darn good day for the
men.”
