400 Freestyle Relay Record Falls, Caps Off ACCs

Saturday, February 27

Chapel Hill, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day Four

400 Freestyle Relay Record Falls, Caps Off ACCs

2/28/2010 12:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – When all was said and done on Saturday evening, the Blue Devil men had earned their best finish ever at the ACC Championships under head coach Dan Colella. The Duke men took sixth place with a score of 305 points, just three and one half points shy of Georgia Tech in fifth. In addition to recording their best ACC finish under Colella, the Blue Devils set three school records on the final day of the conference championships.

Duke's distance guys got action underway at Saturday's finals, competing in the 1650 freestyle. Freshman Alex Harmon posted a time of 15:48.70, Duke's second-fastest time of the year in the event, to take 20th place in the conference. Teammate and classmate, Matt Carder finished just four seconds later in a time of 15:52.35 which was good for 21st place in the ACC. Carder brought home the last 500 yards of the race in 4:47.23.

Three Blue Devils qualified for the 200 backstroke finals including junior Spencer Booth, freshman Ted Minturn, and senior Murillo Adrados. Booth recorded Duke's fastest time in the event of the season by more than three seconds with a time of 1:46.96. The time was good enough for 12th place in the conference. The freshman, Minturn, proved that the future of the program is bright, locking up 15th place in a time of 1:48.04. Adrados closed out his ACC career with a 24th-place finish and his best time of the season in the event (1:52.71).

After some impressive performances on Friday, the Duke sprinters were back to work on Saturday in the 100 freestyle. Junior and school record holder, Nick Garvy, finished sixth in the conference with his NCAA 'B' cut time of 44.37 while freshman Ben Hwang took tenth place in a time of 44.95. Sean Smith and Andy Osterland both competed in the third finals heat, taking 20th and 22nd respectively.

Duke freshman, Jim Zuponeck, produced the team's best finish in the 200 breaststroke. Zuponeck swam to a 2:03.73 finish which earned him rights to 16th place in the conference. Senior David Carlson put the finishing touches on his ACC swimming career with an 18th-place finish in a time of 2:02.73 while sophomore Alex Kluge took home 21st place.

*David Carlson broke the school record in the 100 breaststroke during Friday's prelims session with a time of 56.08, which went unmentioned in yesterday's release.

Two of the three Duke records on the day were recorded by the same individual in the same event. In prelims of the 200 butterfly, sophomore Ben Tuben recorded a time of 1:48.97 to break the previous school record held by teammate Eric Ness. Tuben came back at finals to swim a 1:48.72 and break the record for the second time in less than 12 hours. His performance earned him 15th place at the championships.

The performance most indicative of Duke swimming's rise in the conference came in the last event of the 2010 Men's ACC Swimming Championships, the 400 freestyle relay. The quartet of Booth, Hwang, Smith, and Garvy erased the existing school record by a margin of three seconds and edged out the team from nationally-ranked Florida State for an NCAA 'B' standard and third-place finish.

Coach Colella said of the performance “Things couldn't have ended on a better note. It was a great moment for those folks on the relay and the team and the seniors who have helped build this program for four years.”

Next on the schedule for the Blue Devils is NCAA Zones Diving on March 12 in Atlanta. For the majority of the Duke swimmers, the season is finished; however, several Blue Devils have a shot at reaching the NCAA Championships. The Women's NCAA Championships will be held March 18-20 in Lafayette, Indiana while the Men's NCAA Championships will take place March 25-27 in Columbus, Ohio.