UMBC

Junior Evan Roseberry won the 1650 free at the 2007 Patriot Invite.

, Va.—The UMBC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams completed the third and final session of preliminary heats at the 2007 George Mason Patriot Invitational on Sunday in Fairfax, Va.  The Retrievers will see 23 swims in the finals heat, five in the consolation final, and eight in the bonus final.

Timed finals of the 1650 freestyle were also contested during the morning session, where the Retriever men picked up their first victory of the day as junior Evan Roseberry (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) won the event with a time of 15:57.80.  Freshman Mat Carson (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Silverthorn Collegiate Institute) finished in fifth place with a time of 16:20.52, while freshman Rebecca Godwin (Catonsville, Md./Notre Dame Prep) led the women with at second-place finish in 17:07.00.  Freshman Cassie Dobrzanski (Maugansville, Md./North Hagerstown) and sophomore Brittany Johnson (Ponte Vedra, Fla./The Bolles School) rounded out the top eight finishes, with times of 17:45.92 and 18:10.04 for fifth and seventh place, respectively.

Junior Tina Cantwell (Sinking Spring, Pa./The Hill School) will return as the top seed tonight after turning in a time the morning’s top time of 2:20.39 in the 200 breaststroke.  Sophomore Tereza Kaplanova (Prague, Czech Republic/J.G. Jankovskeho) finished just behind Cantwell, turning in a time of 2:23.24 for the second seed tonight.

Other finalists on the women’s side include senior Rachel Lesslie (Kingston, Ontario, Canada/Holy Cross) who finished in third place in the 200 backstroke this morning with a time of 2:10.70, junior Daniele Surkovich (Ellicott City, Md./Wilde Lake) and senior Lindsey Engler (Salisbury, Md./James M. Bennett) with second and fifth seeds in the 100 free after swimming times of 52.44 and 53.12, and sophomore Kate Chialastri (Flourtown, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) and freshman Sarah Ryan (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Oceanside) who will be the third and eighth seeds in the 200 butterfly after turning in times of 2:09.05 and 2:11.87, respectively.

On the men’s side, sophomore Fred Deal (Richboro, Pa./Father Judge/Council Rock South) will lead the Retriever pack in the 100 free, after turning in a career-best time of 46.95 in the prelims, more than a second off his previous best time of 48.14, to rank second for tonight’s final.  Juniors Justin Bronson (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada/Msgr. Paul Dwyer) and Sven Schneider (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn German Gymnasium), freshman Eric Jones (Gambrills, Md./Arundel), and sophomore Matt Mattingly (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) will also join Deal in the top heat, turning in times of 47.10, 47.20, 47.35, and 47.66 for fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth places, respectively.

Carson will lead another Retriever dominated event after swimming a time of 1:54.26 in the 200 back.  Senior Eric Skrabacz (Hollywood, Md./Leonardtown), sophomore Rasmus Kutt (Tallinn, Estonia/Gustav Adolf Gymnasium), freshman Keilan Freeman (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Argyll Centre), and junior Milos Djukic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic) will also compete in the final after swimming times of 1:54.86, 1:54.99, 1:55.35, and 1:55.91 for third, fourth, fifth, and eighth places this morning.

Senior Scott Auchter (Wernersville, Pa./Wilson) and freshman Phil Novotny (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde) will be the fourth and sixth seeds in the 200 breast tonight after posting times of 2:11.25 and 2:13.41, while Roseberry will look for his second win of the night after recording a time of 1:55.10 in the 200 fly for the second seed tonight.  Junior P.J. Sterba (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson) and freshmen Brad Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) and Jones will also swim in the final after finishing as the third, fourth, and fifth seeds this morning with times of 1:55.86, 1:56.04, and 1:56.36.

This evening’s finals session will also see the finals of the men’s 1-meter and women’s 3-meter diving as well as the 400 free relay and will begin at 5:00 p.m.