Spartan Men Provide Late Heroics in Top-10 Victory
TAMPA, Fla. - The University of Tampa men's and women's swimming teams faced a tough task Thursday against Emory University, pitting a pair of top-10 teams against each other at the UT Aquatics Center.
The No. 9 UT men's team came from behind to knock off the No. 5 Eagles by a 133-129 score in the final event of the day. The No. 10 Tampa women's team met the No. 1 team in NCAA Division III, falling 169-88.
Tampa's men started the meet with a top performance in the 200 Medley Relay as Karl Burdis, Kevin Doran, Felipe Manzo and Khalid Aldaboos were the first to finish at 1:33.73.
Jeremy Parker won the 200 Free (1:43.75) as other Spartans who won their respective races were Burdis in the 100 Back (51.97) and 200 Back (1:54.13), Norbert Kovacs in the 200 Fly (1:55.05), Aldaboos in the 50 Free (21.58) and David Humphrey in the 100 Free (47.95).
Facing a deficit heading into the final event of the day, the 200 Free Relay, Tampa came away with the first and second-place finishes in the e vent to complete the victory. The team of Aldaboos, Jordan Augier, Parker and Derek Krell solidified the win with a time of 1:24.13. The second-place team consisted of Manzo, Humphrey, Stephen Zieler and Max Coulls (1:25.54).
The Spartan women started the meet with a first-place finish in the 200 Medley Relay as the group of Hilary Stetekluh, Alex Hipolito, Emily Grams and Erin Plachy were clocked at 1:50.69.
Winning individual races for UT's women were Plachy in the 50 Free (24.87), Grams in the 100 Fly (59.99), Kristine Kassl in the 500 Free (5:18.50) and Hipolito in the 200 IM (2:17.10)
Tampa's women also finished the day with a first-place showing in the 200 Free Relay as the team of Kylie Piche, Plachy, Kassl and Vicki Munson outpaced their competition with a time of 1:39.87.
The Spartans return to action on Saturday in their final home and regular season meet of the 2012-13 campaign. UT will welcome Rollins College at 10 a.m. Live video of the meet will be available through TampaSpartans.tv.
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