7 Miner swimmers all-region; Grooms top coach

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

The Missouri S&T swimming team had seven individuals named to the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships and also had its head coach named as the "Coach of the Year" after the Miners won the NSISC meet last weekend.

Head coach Doug Grooms was named as the top coach after leading the Miners to the team title by nearly 100 points over Ouachita Baptist. The individuals who earned the all-conference honors included Zach Lemons, Dustin Spieker, Matt Hug, Andrew Trowbridge, Kyle Gordon, David-Sanchez Turner and Jeff Enge.

Hug and Gordon won conference titles at the meet, as Hug took the title in the 500-yard freestyle and Gordon captured the title in the 200-yard freestyle where he edged out Sanchez-Turner in the finals.

The Miners also had a number of individuals earn academic all-conference honors. Those named were Mitch Berggren, David Calcara, Mark Chamberlain, Jeff Enge, Zlatan Hamzic, Austin Kelley, Zach Lemons, Paul Reinisch, Dustin Spieker, Rory Swift and Andrew Trowbridge.

Missouri S&T will be sending 13 individuals to Columbia, Mo., in March for the NCAA Division II Championships.

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Miner swimmers repeat title

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

CLEVELAND, Miss. -- The Missouri S&T swimming team wrapped up their second straight New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships title Saturday night, getting several high finishes and another national qualifier to win the team title by nearly 100 points.

Although the Miners didn't win any of the races Saturday, they did post three second place finishes and five thirds and finished the meet with 830 ½ points, well ahead of the 733 posted by Ouachita Baptist.

One of the runner-up finishes came from freshman Aaron Schmidt in the 200-yard backstroke as he posted a time of 1:51.55 in the finals. Earlier in the day, Schmidt reached the finals with a time of 1:50.68 to become the 13th member of the team that will head to Columbia, Mo., next month for the NCAA Division II Championships.

Schmidt was one of four Miners to finish among the top seven in the 200-backstroke, as Jeff Enge was third in 1:52.62, Kyle Kammer was fifth in 1:54.74 and Rory Swift placed seventh in 1:56.61.

The Miners also got a second place effort from Zlatan Hamzic in the 200-yard breaststroke with an impressive time of 2:04.92 -- which fell under the automatic mark in that event -- and Andrew Trowbridge in the 1,650-freestyle in 15:53.41.

Matt Hug took third in the 1,650-free in 16:04.12 and Danny Murphy was seventh in that event in 16:32.73. In the 200-breaststroke, David Calcara finished fourth in 2:07.49 and Mitch Berggren was eighth in 2:11.83.

The Miners' other third place finishes on an individual basis Saturday came from David Sanchez-Turner in the 100-yard freestyle in 46.18 seconds and Zach Lemons in the 200-butterfly where he posted a time of 1:53.33.

S&T also had a sixth-place finish from Dustin Spieker in the 200-butterfly in 1:55.82, followed by Brian Howell in 1:55.96. In the 100-free, Kyle Gordon took seventh in 47.19 seconds and Mark Chamberlain was eighth in 47.56 seconds.

The Miners also had a third place showing from its 400-yard freestyle relay team of Chamberlain, Gordon, Hug and Sanchez-Turner, with a time of 3:05.60 that fell below the automatic qualifying standard in that event (all four swimmers had already qualified for nationals).

Missouri S&T's next competition will take place at the NCAA Division II Championships, which begins March 12 at the Mizzou Aquatics Center at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

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Miner swimmers in second place

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

CLEVELAND, Miss. – The Missouri S&T swimming team is still in second place after the second day of the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships at Delta State University.

The Miners did capture their first individual title of the meet as Matt Hug claimed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a winning time of 4:32.97. S&T also got a third place finish in the event from Andrew Trowbridge in 4:39.82.

Zach Lemons also had a third place finish Thursday in the 200-individual medley with a time of 1:55.92. S&T had three other finishers among the top seven in that event as Jeff Enge was fifth in 1:56.38, Dustin Spieker was sixth in 1:56.89 and Rory Swift took seventh in 1:56.96.

David Sanchez-Turner finished sixth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.52 seconds, while Mark Chamberlain was seventh in 21.70 and Kyle Gordon eighth in 21.73.

The Miners also had a fourth place finish from their 200-yard freestyle relay team of Gordon, Chamberlain, Sanchez-Turner and Hug as they posted a time of 1:25.21. S&T's 400-medley relay team took ninth as the quartet of Enge, David Calcara, Lemons and Hug posted a mark of 3:27.75.

The Miners are currently 23 points in back of Ouachita Baptist in the team standings, but have put some room between themselves and third place Delta State as they have a 53 ½ point lead over the Statesmen at the midway point of the meet.

The meet continues Friday, Feb. 15.

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Miner swimmers coast in home finale

By John Kean
S&T Sports Information

ROLLA -- The Missouri University of Science & Technology swimming team wrapped up its home schedule Friday night. Jan. 25 with a convincing 133-72 win over Truman State at the Missouri S&T Pool, winning 10 of the 11 events on the evening.

The Miners won both relay events (the second was an exhibition), with the team of Kyle Kammer, Mark Chamberlain, David Calcara and Kyle Gordon taking the 400-yard medley relay in 3:29.69 and the 400-freestyle relay group of Gordon, David Sanchez-Turner, Chamberlain and Matt Hug posting the best time in that event of 3:09.41.

Hug won two events on an individual basis, taking the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.73 and adding a win in the 500-freestyle later in the evening in 4:40.61.

The Miners also got first place finishes from Andrew Trowbridge in the 1,000-freestyle in 9:41.97, Gordon in the 50-freestyle in 21.92 seconds, Jeff Enge in the 200-individual medley in 1:57.08, Dustin Spieker in the 200-butterfly in 1:56.06, Kammer in the 200-backstroke in 1:55.75 and Zlatan Hamzic in the 200-breaststroke in 2:07.67.

Second place efforts came from Danny Murphy in the 1,000 in 9:48.73, Sanchez-Turner in the 200-free in 1:46.61, Zach Lemons in the 200-IM in 1:59.20, Chamberlain in the 100-freestyle in 48.15, Aaron Schmidt in the 200-backstroke in 1:59.97, Trowbridge in the 500-free in 4:45.86 and Calcara in the 200-breaststroke in 2:09.92.

Murphy took third in the 200-IM in 1:59.61 to help the Miners sweep the top three spots in that event, while Lemons (2:00.02 in the 200-butterfly), Sanchez-Turner (48.25 in the 100-freestyle) and Enge (4:47.46 in the 500-free) also recorded third place efforts.

The meet was the final home meet for five Miner seniors -- Calcara, Chamberlain, Hug, Spieker and Rory Swift, who had a fourth place showing in the 200-backstroke Friday.

S&T's next competition will be in the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships which begins Feb. 13 at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss.

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3 Miner swimmers make provisional marks

By John Kean
UMR Sports Information

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Miner swimming team dropped a dual meet decision Saturday by a count of 140-90 to defending NCAA Division II champion Drury, but had three of its swimmers make a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Championships.

The Panthers won nine of the 11 events in the meet, with the Miner victories coming from Matt Hug in the 1,000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:33 -- which made the B-cut standard for the NCAA Division II meet -- and Brian Howell in the 200-yard butterfly where he edged DU's Kyle Kearbey by three-hundredths of a second in 1:58.71.

Hug also finished second in the 500-freestyle Saturday with a time of 4:36.06 that made the B-cut time for the national meet.

Andrew Trowbridge did it in the 1,000-freestyle with his mark of 9:47.37 and Jeff Enge in the 400-yard individual medley with his time of 4:11.19.

UMR got second place showings from Kyle Kammer in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:48.61, Kyle Gordon in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.98 and 100-free in 48.92 and Zlatan Hamzic in the 200-breaststroke in 2:09.05.

The Miners' 400-yard medley relay team of Kammer, David Calcara, Paul Reinisch and Gordon also took second in 3:36.55 as did the 400-freestyle relay quartet of Hug, David Sanchez-Turner, Jeff Enge and Mark Chamberlain with a time of 3:15.43.

Andrew Trowbridge had a third in the 500-freestyle in 4:44.90, as did Kammer in the 200-backstroke in 1:56.04, Chamberlain in the 200-free in 1:49.80 and 100-free in 49.35 seconds, Sanchez-Turner in the 50-free in 22.47, Zach Lemons in the 200-butterfly in 1:59.42, Calcara in the 200-breaststroke in 2:10.05 and Enge in the 400-IM.

UMR will compete next weekend at the Western Kentucky Invitational, a three-day meet that begins Friday in Bowling Green, Ky.

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Miner swimmers at home for dual meet

By John Kean
UMR Sports Information

ROLLA – The University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team will hold one of their two home meets of the 2007-08 season Friday night, Oct. 19, as part of Homecoming Weekend at UMR, as the Miners will take on Delta State at the UMR Pool in the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The meet will get underway at 5 p.m.

Delta State finished 14th last season at the NCAA Division II Championships and ended up fourth in the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships that the Miners won last February.

The Miners opened the 2007-08 season Saturday at the same location that it will finish the season in March -- the Mizzou Aquatics Center – with a third place finish in the Show-Me Showdown at the University of Missouri.

The Miners finished with several individuals among the top 10 in various events throughout the afternoon as they finished ahead of everyone except for the host Tigers and Missouri State.

David Calcara (Olympia, Wash./Capital) had a strong showing in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 58.66 that won his heat and placed him third in the event and in the 50-breaststroke where he took fourth in 27.51. Kyle Kammer (Williamsburg, Va./Lafayette) took fifth in the 100-yard backstroke with a mark of 52.36 seconds as did Matt Hug (Bloomington, Ill.) in the 200-freestyle in 1:42.80 and freshman Zlatan Hamzik (Panceva, Serbia) in the 100-breaststroke

in 59.29.

Hamzik also finished sixth in the 50-breaststroke in 27.64, while Kammer was seventh in the 50-backstroke with a time of 24.79 and Paul Reinisch (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) had a similar finish in the 50-butterfly in 23.94.

UMR also got a tenth place effort from Mitchell Berggren (Louisville, Colo./Monarch) in 50-breaststroke as well with a time of 28.68 while Kyle Gordon, Berggren's high school teammate at Monarch, had a mark of 22.24 in the 50-freestyle in his first collegiate meet, just ahead of Reinisch's mark of 22.28.

The Miners had a third-place showing from its 300-yard medley relay team of Kammer, Calcara, Reinisch and Gordon in 2:33.81 as well as in a 200-yard medley relay with eight competitors in 1:27.29.

UMR's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mark Chamberlain (Lake Jackson, Texas), Gordon, Hug and David Sanchez-Turner (Madrid, Spain) placed fourth with a time of 1:27.02 as did the 400-freestyle relay group of Gordon, Hug, Chamberlain and Sanchez-Turner in 3:15.94.

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