Men's Swimming Claims Championship in the 200 Freestyle Relay
Spartans Martin Hammer, Jordan Augier, Runar Borgen and Jeremy Parker earned a National Championship in the 200 freestyle relay after posting a new Division II record of 1:17.27 in the championship final Thursday evening.
INDIANAPOLIS – Day two of the 2016 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships concluded with six meet records being broken at the IU Natatorium in downtown Indianapolis. Leading the way for the University of Tampa men's swimming team was the combined efforts of Martin Hammer, Jordan Augier, Runar Borgen and Jeremy Parker as the quad set a new Division II record in the 200 freestyle relay, breaking the previous mark with a top-time of 1:17.27 to crown the crew National Champions for that event on Thursday.
At the end of the second day of the championships, the men's team sits sixth overall with 123 points while the UT women's squad moves to 24th with a team score of 17.
The Spartans started the day with a strong showing in the 200 freestyle relay, as Hammer, Augier, Borgen and Parker began with a preliminary time of 1:17.78. The same four set the new national record in the championship finals, beating the next closest group by nearly two seconds.
Senior Borgen placed 14th in the men's 100 yard butterfly with a time of 48.50 to earn UT three points toward their team score. Khalid Aldaboos swam in the preliminary round, finishing 28th in the event. Fellow senior Parker added five points for the Tampa men with a 12th place finish in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:38.40.
Makayla Ayers and Brittany Bayes each competed in the preliminary round of the 200 yard freestyle in the preliminary round of competition, recording a 43rd and 46th place finish, respectively.
The Tampa men posted a 10th place finish in the 400 yard medley relay as Augier, Wayne Denswil, Borgen and Hammer combined for a 3:16.25 time to add 14 points to the Spartan team score.
Through 20 events of competition, both the men and women's teams of Queens (N.C.) lead the field with 203 and 266 points, respectively. On the men's side, the Sunshine State Conference is well represented as Florida Southern sits third with 143.5 points and Nova Southeastern is knotted at sixth with Tampa, holding 123 team points.
Competition continues through Saturday, with preliminary rounds for swimming events each day at 10:30 a.m. at the Natatorium and finals at 6 p.m. Diving preliminaries are conducted at 2 p.m. each day. A complete schedule of events may be found at www.indianasportscorp.org/events/events-calendar/ncaa-swimming-diving.