Williams Places Second in 100 Back, Breaks Two Records

Gophers Make Best Showing: Fourth Place Ahead of Cardinals, Rangers

KINGS POINT, N.Y. — Goucher beat out Catholic and Drew to finish in fourth place at the 2010 Landmark Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, which concluded today.

The Gophers had one individual and one relay place as high as second during the three-day meet. Kyle Williams (Andover, N.J./Newton), who reached the championship finals in three individual events, was runner-up Saturday in the 100-yard backstroke as he completed the race in :55.33. That same day Williams also swam the opening leg for Goucher in the 200-yard medley relay, helping that unit which included Georgi Shalamanov (Velingrad, Bulgaria/St. St. Kiril & Metodi), Charlie Leonard (Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) and Charlie Rooney (Sea Bright, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) place second behind Merchant Marine and set a new school record (1:37.32).

The same four swimmers also represented Goucher on Friday in the 400 medley relay, which placed third. Williams led off and his leg was clocked at :55.07, which qualifies as a new school record in the 100 back, plus the combined times of the four swimmers (3:37.82) stands a new school record for the relay.

In addition to his second-place performance in the 100 back, Williams took third place Sunday in the 200 back and fifth place Friday in the 500 freestyle. He became the first individual in the history of Goucher's men's swimming program to complete the 200 back in under two minutes as he posted a time of 1:59.99; he was clocked at 4:53.67 in the 500 free.

Shalamanov made it to the championship finals in both the 100 free and 50 free. He tied the school record in the 100 by turning in a time of :49.97, good for fourth place, and he wound up fifth in the 50 free (:22.09).

Rooney broke the school record when he placed seventh Saturday in the 100 butterfly as he completed the event in :54.37. He also finished in seventh place in the 50 free (:22.32) and 11th in the 100 free (:49.13).

Goucher amassed 210.50 points during the meet and the fourth-place performance was its best in the three years that the Landmark Conference has been conducting championships. The Cardinals (133 points) were 77.50 points behind the Gophers in fifth place and the Rangers (110) followed in sixth place.

Four other swimmers earned points for Goucher in individual events: Michael Ambrosio (Port Washington, N.Y./Paul D. Schreiber) placed seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.60) and tied for 10th in the 200 breast (2:26.23), Brendan McFadden (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley) finished ninth in the 100 breast (1:06.57), Jordan Gaeta (Lawrenceville, Ga./Conserve School) was 12th in the 400 individual medley (5:47.85) and Devin Myles (Turner, Maine/Leavitt Area) was 12th in the 1650 free (19:26.72).

Goucher's entry placed fourth or higher in all five relay events.