East Carolina University
The American Championships
Pirates Maintain Hold On First-Place At The American Championships
February 19, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
Championship Central | Thursday's Complete Results
HOUSTON --- After two days of competition the East Carolina University men's swimming and diving team remains in first-place at the American Athletic Conference championships being hosted by the University of Houston.
The Pirates have accumulated 295.5 team points and lead second-place SMU (278.50) points by 17 points, while Cincinnati (212) and UConn (203) sit in third and fourth.
ECU junior Fran Krznaric (1:45.72) claimed the gold medal in the 200-yard IM by nearly three seconds over runner-up Greg Baliko of UConn, missing the pool record of 1:45.70 by two-hundredths of a second. Krznaric pulled away from the pack during the backstroke-breaststroke exchange en route to the victory.
In the closest race of the night, ECU's Michael Dugan was edged by SMU's Christian Scherubl (4:18.72) by four-hundredths of a second in the 500-yard freestyle. The two separated themselves from the rest of the field and battled all the way to the last lap, where it came to a touch-out in favor of Scherubl. The Pirates' Julien Dodu claimed third-place in the event, giving ECU two spots on the medal podium.
Shawn Hunter (20.15) captured the silver medal in the men's 50-yard freestyle with a NCAA B qualifying time, finishing second to SMU's Ziga Cerkovnik (20.05).
Joined by teammates John Myhre and Trevor Irish, Dugan and Hunter helped ECU earn second-place in the men's 200-yard freestyle relay, which went to SMU. The Mustangs took the advantage in the third leg when Cerkovnik dove into the pool. Scherubl drove home the win in the fourth leg to deliver a finishing time of 1:19.90 before Irish touched the wall in a close second (1:20.41).
With only two medal finishes on the night, ECU slipped to sixth-place on the women's side with 182.50 points, while SMU moved up to first as the Mustangs concluded Day 2 with 263 points. UConn finished in second with a score of 245, followed by Tulane (226.50), Houston (226) and Cincinnati (200).
Anastasia Amoiroglou earned the bronze medal in the 50-yard freestyle with a NCAA B qualifying time of 22.66, missing the silver medal by one-tenth of a second. She did, however, capture a silver medal in the women's 200-yard freestyle relay with teammates Erin Polich, Bridie Burke and Logan Graumann.
Competition continues on Friday with preliminary swimming events starting at 10 a.m. CT, followed by men's 3 meter diving preliminaries at 12:30 CT. The finals are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT.
Players Mentioned
