Sophomore Roland Rudolf swam to a third place finish in the 200 backstroke with the fourth fastest time in school history to lead the sixth ranked Florida men’s swimming and diving team to an eighth place finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships.  Florida finished the meet with a total of 210 points.

The eighth place finish by the Gators marks the ninth straight year that head coach Gregg Troy has led his team to a top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships.  

Rudolf, who improved upon his sixth fastest time in school history during preliminaries, touched the wall with a new career best and fourth fastest time in UF history at 1:41.49.  He came alive in the final 50 yards, swimming the second fastest final 50 of the race to place third.

Rudolf’s swim was not the only record-setting performance of the day as Clark Burckle broke the school record in the 200 breaststroke to finish second in the fourth heat of preliminaries before going on to place fourth in the championship final with a time of 1:55.09. 

“It was a good race,” said Burckle.  “I wish I could have placed higher but I was happy with the time and it was a good race so I can’t really complain.”

Burckle’s record breaking swim of 1:55.04 during preliminaries marks the second time in as many years that the school record has been broken.

“The coaches told me that I broke the record,” said Burckle.  “That’s pretty cool, it’s a good feeling.”

Shaune Fraser rounded out Florida’s championship finalists with his fifth place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:44.06.  Fraser, who also finished fifth in the same event last season, turned in the fifth fastest time in school history during preliminaries with a time of 1:43.83. 

The Gators sent seven swimmers to the timed finals of the 1,650 freestyle and turned in seven top-25 finishes.  Tobias Work swam the best time by a Gator, touching the wall sixth in the third heat with a time of 15:05.11 to place 15th overall.  Logan Storie, competing in his first NCAA Championships, placed 17th overall with his third place finish in the second heat with a time of 15:08.70.  Freshman Joey Pedraza, touched in eighth in the third heat of the afternoon, swimming to the wall with a time of 15:15.88 for a 21st place finish while senior Grant Johnson touched the wall third in the first heat with a time of 15:17.98 to place 22nd.  Ryan Crete and Dustin McLarty rounded out the Gators finishers in the mile, placing 24th and 25th overall with times of 15:21.04 and 15:22.97 respectively.

Florida swimming was featured five times over the course of the consolation finals.  Omar Pinzon and Rex Tullius both swam in the consolation final of the turning in the 12th and 15th fastest times of the final round.  Pinzon touched in fourth in the consolation with a time of 1:43.00 to place 12th overall while Tullius was seventh in the consolation final to place 15th with a time of 1:46.13.  Senior Tim Hughes was Florida’s second best finisher in the 200 fly, touching the wall with a time of 1:45.25 to place sixth in the consolation final and 14th overall.  Bradley Ally touched the wall in sixth place to finish 14th overall in the 200 breast with a time of 1:57.30.

“It was an alright performance for us,” said Ally.  “I’m pleased with my performance in the 400 IM but we have some things to work on still.  I’m looking forward to cleaning that up when we get back into the pool at home.”

The Gators touched the wall fourth in the 400 freestyle relay to close out the meet.  Daniel Penniman led the Gators off with a split of 43.85.  Penniman was followed by Ally, Johnson and Rudolf to combine for a time of 2:55.40.

Florida finishes its season with the eighth place finish and will now look forward to sending several athletes to the Olympic Trials for both the United States and abroad.  For information on the morning preliminaries, please visit www.gatorzone.com.

Gator All-Americans – Number of honors

Fraser – 7

Ally – 6

Pinzon – 5

Rudolf – 4

Burckle – 4

Penniman – 3

Hughes – 3

Smith – 2

Pedraza – 1

Tullius – 1

Johnson – 1

Work – 1

Top 10 Teams:

1. Arizona               500.5            2. Texas                 406

3. Stanford              344              4. California             332

5. Auburn                316              6. Michigan              271.5

7. Georgia               229              8. Florida                210

9. Tennessee           172              10. Indiana              166