Kentucky senior All-American Daniel Cruz fell just shy in his bid for a national title Saturday evening, placing third in the 200 butterfly at the NCAA Swimming & Championships in Minnesota?s University Aquatic Center. Nonetheless, Cruz helped lead Kentucky to a 12th-place team finish, marking the best showing in the history of the program.
Cruz, who entered the final tied for the lead with Michigan junior Davis Tarwater, placed third to match his finish at the 2004 NCAA Championships. Tarwater captured the event in a pool-record time of 1:42.30, a full second ahead of the pool-record time he and Cruz produced in the afternoon preliminary round. 2004 NCAA Champion Rainer Kendrick took second in 1:43.02, and Cruz followed behind in 1:43.97. A Palm Coast, Fla., native, Cruz collects his second-consecutive first-team All-America honor in the event. Fellow senior Jerram Chudleigh placed ninth in the preliminary round and fell to 16th in the consolation final with a time of 1:47.48.
Kentucky completed an All-American trifecta by placing fifth in the 400-freestyle relay, earning its third first-team All-America relay selection in as many days. The UK quartet of junior Daniel Farnham, seniors Tim Patrick and Clay Gasparovich and junior Steven Manley obliterated the school record set last month, beating the old mark with a time of 2:53.70.
Farnham rewrote his school record in the 100 freestyle, clocking a preliminary time of 43.25for 14th place. He moved up one spot in the final to 13th place with a time of 43.67. Patrick placed 35th while Gasparovich took 44th place overall. Freshman Kristian Outinen added a 33rd-place showing in the 200 breaststroke.
?The boys did a really good job this weekend,? UK Coach Gary Conelly said. ?They had some off swims, but they came back and did a great job. We thought we were going to end up tied for 12th place, but our performance in the relay at the end was beyond what we expected. These guys showed a lot of heart.?
Despite having no divers at the competition, Kentucky earned its best finish ever at the championships. UK finished 12th with 116 points after placing 15th a season ago with 83 points. Kentucky leaves Minneapolis with first-team All-America honors in four events and four additional honorable mention All-America selections.
NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships ? Minneapolis, Minn.
Day Three Kentucky Results
200 Butterfly
3. Daniel Cruz ? 1:43.97
16. Jerram Chudleigh ? 1:47.48
400 Freestyle Relay
5. Kentucky (Farnham, Patrick, Gasparovich, Manley) ? 2:53.70*
100 Freestyle
13. Daniel Farnham ? 43.67 (43.25* prelim. time)
35. Tim Patrick ? 44.35
44. Clay Gasparovich ? 44.82
Steven Manley ? DQ
200 Breaststroke
33. Kristian Outinen ? 2:01.64
* – new school record
