March 18, 2002
By student assistant Sara Swenson
Men's Swimming Team Takes Ninth at NCAA DII Nationals
The Truman men's team improved dramatically over last year's national finish with a solid performance at the NCAA Division II Championships last week in Orlando, Fla. The team came home with ninth place, tying for the second-best national finish in school history.
The nine-member squad, which was the largest group of qualifiers in the history of the men's team, finished the meet with 174 points, just one point out of eighth place. The team also placed ninth in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. Its highest finish ever was eighth in 1995-96. Last year the men finished 16th overall.
Junior all-America Matt Pray (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) posted two of the highest finishes for the Bulldogs as he charted third place in the 100-yard butterfly and fourth in the 200-yard butterfly. Pray's times in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly races also set new school records.
Four of the men's relay teams also finished in the top eight, earning the relay members all-America honors. The 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Brian Teson (Kansas City, Mo./St. Pius X), sophomore Andy Harken (Liberty, Mo./Liberty), Pray and junior Drew Yemm (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley NW) and the 400-yard medley relay team of Teson, Harken, Pray and sophomore Robby Cooper (Holden, Mo./Holden) each earned seventh place, along with new Truman records.
The 200-yard freestyle relay of Yemm, Pray, Harken and sophomore Vince Struble (Omaha, Neb./Creighton Prep) also took seventh-place honors. The 400-yard freestyle relay of Pray, Cooper, Struble and Yemm posted an eighth-place finish and a new Truman record, as well.
Finishing with honorable mention all-America honors was the 800-yard freestyle relay team of seniors Kyle Sterup (Fremont, Neb./Fremont) and Andy Ladrow (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mitchell), freshman Phil Brown (Estes Park, Colo./Estes Park) and Cooper, which took 10th.
Several individuals also had honorable mention all-America finishes. Harken fared well in the breaststroke events, finishing ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke for a new school record and 16th in the 200-yard breaststroke. He also placed 15th in the 200-yard IM.
In the sprint freestyle races, Yemm posted an 11th-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle and a 16th-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle. Cooper and Sterup took turns with high finishes in the distance freestyle races. Cooper placed 14th in the 200-yard freestyle, 12th in the 500-yard freestyle and 16th in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Sterup was 12th in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 15th in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
The finishes set new school records for Cooper in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and for Sterup in the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyles.