Byars, Women's 200-Free Relay Break School Records
Feb. 21, 2008
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Billiken senior Brad Byars broke the school record in the 200 free, and the women's 200-free relay of Erin Carlyle, Jordan Hagar, Ashley Potocki and Elena Ramirez set a new school standard on the second day of competition at the Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. For the second time this season, Byars eclipsed a school record held by former Billiken Jason Difani. This time it was in the 200 free when he clocked a time of 1:41.44 in the leadoff leg of the Billikens' school-record breaking 800-free relay on Wednesday evening. Difani set the previous standard (1:41.67) at the Midwest Classic on Feb. 25, 2000. Byars, who is also threatening to break Difani's 50-free mark (20.46), broke Difani's 100-free record (45.60) with a time of 45.27 at Southern Illinois on Dec. 8, 2007. Byars, the only Billiken swimmer to qualify for the championship finals on Thursday, clocked a 20.92 in the 50-free finals to finish third with the second-fastest performance in school history. His time of 21.15 in the prelims tied for seventh in the Billiken record book. That effort ties for third in SLU annals, and is the best performance by a SLU swimmer this season. In the same event, rookie Stephen Sheridan qualified for a swim-off with a personal best time of 21.76. The women's 200-free relay posted an eighth-place time of 1:38.57, which bettered the previous mark of 1:38.74 set at the 2004 Conference USA Championships. In women's one-meter diving action, Anna Larson finished fourth in the finals with an 11-dive effort of 423.10 while Emily Walter placed seventh with a score of 347.80. Larson's score is the fourth-best effort in school history.
Freshman Michael Dahle, the lone SLU swimmer to advance to the consolation finals, finished 12th in the finals with a time of 4:41.60 after finishing 12th in the prelims with a personal-best time of 4:41.08. His prelims performance, which ranks second in the Billiken record book, was the top effort by a SLU swimmer this season. Sal Cruz finished 20th in the 200 IM-prelims with a personal-best effort (1:58.78), which ranks 10th in the SLU record book and is also the fastest race by the Bills this season. The SLU men's 200-free relay of Sheridan, Byars, Jimmy Ritt and Trafton finished fourth (1:24.67). Their performance ranks third all-time in the Billiken record book. On the women's side, rookie Jordan Hagar's 24.66 performance in the 50 free prelims ranks third in SLU annals. Her personal best effort was good for 21st place in the event prelims. Fellow freshman Katie Robertson placed 19th in the 500-free prelims. Her time of 5:11.15 ranks fifth in the Billiken record book. In the time trials, Kevin Parker and Justin Breithaupt turned in performances that rank among SLU's all-time top 10 in their respective events. Parker's time of 51.52 in the 100 fly ranks fifth in SLU annals while Breithaupt's 4:46.03 in the 500 free is ninth on the Billikens' all-time list. |
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