SAPC men's swimming competes in first conference championship

February 13-16, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Freshman Dwight Richardson (Newport News, Va.) just missed qualifying for the NCAA National Championships by less than a half of a second in the 50 Yard Freestyle as the St. Andrews Presbyterian College men’s swim team finished 11th out of 12 colleges and universities in the 2008 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships this past week at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Club (hosted by Wingate University) from Thursday to Saturday, February 13-16.

“The men have been consistent all year and we are definitely looking for an improved season next year for both our team strength and our conference results,” said St. Andrews first year head coach Jason Gallaher.

Richardson registered the Knights first NCAA Division II B Standard with a time of 21:23 in the 50 Yard Freestyle on Thursday night. Richardson finished 10th out of 51 entrants in the race by taking over a half second off his personal record (PR) in the finals. Richardson’s blazing speed of 21:23 was just 34-hundredths off qualifying for the D-II National Championships.

A quartet of other St. Andrews swimmers competed in the 50 Yard Freestyle with all four posting personal best marks. Freshman Joseph Hernandez (Hubert, N.C.) was the next fastest Knight at 25:14; freshman Robb Vermillion (Williamsburg, Va.) hit the wall in 27:32; junior Mitch Cooper’s (Virginia Beach, Va.) added a time of 28:18 in his first try of the year in the event; and senior Ian Burkett (Columbia, S.C.) concluded in 28:69.

Cooper started the Knights competition on Friday with a PR of 2:29.82 in the 200 Yard Freestyle. Vermillion then added his own PR in the 100 Yard Breaststroke with a speed of 1:08.83.

Richardson provided the St. Andrews swimming team with a couple more team points in the 100 Yard Backstroke. Richardson set a new PR in the preliminaries with a fast time of 54.85 to enter the finals as the No. 11 seed. However, Richardson fell to 14th overall out of 28 racers with a finals time of 56.18. Richardson’s 14th place finish was still good for a BMC Championship B-Cut Result. Hernandez also competed in the event logging a PR of 1:07.78.

In his third individual event of the conference tourney on Saturday, Richardson just missed qualifying for the finals in the 100 Yard Freestyle by less than a second with a PR time of 49:28. Hernandez (56.03), Cooper (1:03.37), and Burkett (1:05.67) also tallied PR’s in the 100 Freestyle.

“It was great to have Dwight (Richardson) at least get one B-cut in our first year of the program. He is a very talented sprint freestyler who is only going to get faster each year,” concluded Gallaher.

St. Andrews finished ahead of Salem International University in the team competition with 36 total points.