Hurricanes Swimming & Diving Finish Fifth at OSU Invite
Dec. 7, 2008
Complete Results | Complete Results in PDF Format 
Columbus, Ohio – The University of Miami swimming and diving team finished fifth on the women’s side on Sunday with a total of 371 points at the Ohio State Invitational held at the McCorkle Aquatics Center in Columbus, Ohio. The Hurricanes men’s diving team finished with 49 points, all by junior All-American Reuben Ross.
Miami turned in their second first place award of the weekend over in the diving well as All-American and defending National Champion Brittany Viola continued her mastery of the platform event with a score of 308.80 to collect her first platform title of the year in her very first appearance on the 10-meter level. For Viola, it was her third platform award in as many tries dating back to last season’s NCAA and ACC Championships.
Viola, a junior from Orlando, Fla., still owns the pool record at the McCorkle Aquatics Center with a score of 362.60 turned in on the platform last year.
In the men’s platform, junior Reuben Ross performed admirably by taking second place with a score of 383.90. This is Ross’ second platform event of the year. First place honors for the event went to Ohio State’s Sean Moore who scored a 434.60 to set a new pool record for the event.
Back on the lanes, the action started to heat up for the Orange and Green. Head coach Christie Shefchunas got plenty of positive results out of her team on Sunday as the `Canes picked up four top 10 times in four separate events.
The Hurricanes 400 freestyle relay team placed fifth behind the strength of leadoff Annika Saarnak continuing through to Kirsten Pomerleau, Lizzi Torres and anchored by Lauren Jacoby. Together, the team finished with a time of 3:25.90, setting a new season-high as a squad.
Britta Boesing touched the wall in 2:17.05 to claim fourth place on the day in the 200-yard backstroke. Dana Hatic followed in 11th place (2:22.22). Saarnak collected eighth place in the 100-yard freestyle posting a time of 50.82, setting a new team-best time and personal-best on the season for the Puhaleda, Estonia sophomore. Pomerleau and Jacoby swam 13th and 14th, respectively, for the Orange and Green. Pomerleau touched at 51.39, while Jacoby was just behind with 51.47.
Erin Simpson, a talented freshman from Lookout Mountain, Tenn., recorded a new season and team-best time of 2:02.69 to claim sixth place in the 200-yard butterfly event. Simpson destroyed her old season-best mark by nearly four seconds (2:06.20) set back on Nov. 8 against Florida Atlantic University.
This is the last event of the fall semester for the Hurricanes, who now break for the holidays before entering back into the pool on Jan. 10 against the University of Kansas. The Jayhawks visit UM’s Norman A. Whitten Student Union Pool at 1 p.m. Admission is free to all.
