March 19, 2006
Final Stats
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The Johns Hopkins men's swim team improved a place to finish fourth at the 2006 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships Saturday. The Blue Jays finished with 303 points, just seven behind third place finisher Emory University. Kenyon College won its record 27th consecutive national championship with 498 points. Three Blue Jays had podium finishes in the final day of the championships.
The day started with the 1650 Free, where freshman Colin Kleinguetl finished 16th with a time of 16:01.34. Next up was the 200 Back, where the Jays got their first individual podium finish of the weekend. Sophomore Ryan Kim took bronze with a time of 1:49.52, just .23 of a second behind first place finisher Mark Schmitt of Kenyon. It was his fastest time of the season. Kim also won silver with both the 200 and 400 Medley Relay teams.
Sophomore Brad Test followed that up with a bronze finish of his won. He swam to a third place finish in the 100 Free with a time of 45.13, his fastest of the season. Test was also on the silver medal winning 200 and 400 Medley Relay teams. Senior Tyler Harris was next in the 200 Breast, where he finished seventh with a time of 2:04.61. His time was more than two seconds faster than his previous season best time. Freshman John Kegelman finished ninth, followed by sophomore Matt Fedderly in 13th and senior Zane Hamilton in 14th.
Senior Sean Kim posted the best individual finish for the Blue Jays in the next event, the 200 Fly. Kim took silver with a time of 1:49.59, more than a second faster then his previous season best time. He was also a member of the 200 and 400 Medley Relay teams that won silver. Senior Gary Itskovich placed eighth with a time of 1:54.26 and junior Keith Parent finished 12th in 1:52.59.
Hopkins closed out the championships with a seventh place finish in the 400 Free Relay. Junior
Kevin Walsh, junior Richard Guerard, Hamilton and Test combined for a time of 3:04.64, more than a second faster than the previous best time for the Jays.
The Blue Jays finished in the top five of the NCAA Championships for the seventh straight season. They have finished in the top five in 21 of the 32 championships. Hopkins won three straight NCAA Championships from 1977 to 1979.
