UK junior Daniel Cruz turned in one of the finest swim performances in Kentucky history, taking third place in the 200-meter butterfly with an NCAA record-breaking time Saturday evening at the 2004 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in East Meadow, N.Y.
Cruz completed the event in 1:55.15, eclipsing the NCAA 200-meter butterfly record time of 1:55.79 established by Stanford?s Adam Messner four years ago. However, Texas? Rainer Kendrick took the record breaking a step further, taking first with a time of 1:54.97, while Stanford?s Jayme Cramer took second in 1:55.00. Cruz falls shy of an NCAA individual-event title by 18 one-hundredths of a second.
Cruz?s time of 1:55.15 converts to 1:43.18 in yards, which bests his Kentucky record time of 1:43.53 established at the SEC Championships last month in Athens, Ga. Cruz earned his finals berth with an afternoon preliminary-round time of 1:55.68. The only competitor to improve his championship final-round time more than Cruz was the eventual champion, Texas? Kendrick. Cruz caps a dramatic turnaround after placing 30th in this event a year ago.
Cruz?s top-three finish extends the string of tremendous NCAA showings turned in recently by University of Kentucky Olympic sports. In 2000, Carlos Drada became the NCAA men?s singles runner-up, a feat later duplicated by then-freshman Jesse Witten in 2002. The Kentucky rifle team earned NCAA team runner-up finishes in 2001 and 2002 and an NCAA smallbore runner-up finish two weeks ago.
A year ago, 11-time All-American Clayton Moss earned NCAA runner-up honors in the three-meter diving event after claiming NCAA one-meter runner-up honors in 2002. Eight-time All-American UK Rifle member Bradley Wheeldon turned in an NCAA smallbore runner-up showing at the 2003 NCAA Championships. Amy Trefethen and Sarah Witten fell just short of an NCAA women?s doubles title in 2003, defeating several top doubles tandems on their way to an NCAA runner-up finish.
Elsewhere at the 2004 NCAA Men?s Swimming and Diving Championships, the Kentucky 400-meter freestyle relay team of juniors Clay Gasparovich and Tim Patrick and sophomores Daniel Farnham and Steven Manley scored an 11th place finish with a time of 3:16.49. The time, when converted to yards, measures 2:56.05, which ties the Kentucky record time established by Shaun Zitani, David Tweedie, Macon White and Aaron Workman at the 2001 SEC Championships. Kentucky placed 17th in this event a year ago.
Junior Mario Rodriguez scored for Kentucky for the second time in three days, taking 13th place on the platform with a 459.10. Rodriguez took 12th in Thursday?s one-meter diving event. Junior Jerram Chudleigh swam the 200-meter butterfly in 1:57.68, placing 18th overall. Farnham placed 30th in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 49.40.
Kentucky ends the NCAA Championships in 15th place with 83 points. UK placed 17th with 70 points at the 2003 NCAA Championships. Complete results are available at www.nliac.com.
200-Meter Butterfly Final
1. Rainer Kendrick ? Texas 1:54.97 *(NCAA Record) 2. Jayme Cramer ? Stanford 1:55.00* 3. Daniel Cruz ? Kentucky 1:55.15* 4. Davis Tarwater ? Michigan 1:55.48* 5. Michael Raab ? Virginia 1:55.71* 6. Matt McDonald ? Stanford 1:55.97 7. Juan Veloz ? Arizona 1:56.06 8. Adam Sioui ? Florida 1:56.50
* Beat previous NCAA record time of 1:55.79 (Adam Messner, Stanford, 2000)
