Springfield, MIT Earn Top Ten Finishes at Men's National Swimming and Diving Championships
Springfield, MIT, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, WPI, and Wheaton Athletes Earn All-America Honors

HOLLAND, Mich. - Springfield College junior Mike Shaw (Westfield, Mass.) was crowned national champion in both 1- and 3-meter diving to lead the Pride to ninth place out of 63 teams at the NCAA Divison III Championships, Saturday, at Hope College, Michigan.

Shaw, who was named the "Diver of the Meet," totaled 456.80 points to win the one-meter dive on Thursday, and 505.55 points on Saturday to win his second-straight three-meter title. He was the one-meter runner-up in 2004. Shaw also finished sixth and third, respectively, in the events in 2003.

SC Freshman Ben Casavant (Acton, Mass.) finished runner-up to Shaw in the three-meter competition (456.80) while taking eighth place on the one-meter board (371.90) to earn a pair of All-America honors as head diving coach Peter Avdoulos was named the national Diving Coach of the Year.

MIT men's swimming and diving finished 10th overall at the NCAA Championships out of 57 scoring teams, equaling its best result in the team standings since 1984. Four of Tech's relays finished among the top ten, while sophomore Craig Edwards swam to All-American accolades in both backstroke events.

In the last event of the Championships, the Engineers won the consolation heat of the 400 free relay, securing its fourth top-ten relay finish. The team of Jonathan Varsanik, Mattieu Fuzellier, Grady Snyder and Craig Edwards split 3:06.02 to post the seventh-fastest mark in the event.

The Engineers finished second in the consolation finals of the 200 free relay, while the medley relay teams earned All-America honors after placing among the top five.

Craig Edwards was Tech's top individual at the meet, earning All-America honors in the 100 and 200 backstroke for the second consecutive year. He was also the only swimmer to appear on all four relays, copping four All-American citations on the weekend.

The United States Coast Guard Academy's first-year Bobby Brown capped an amazing season on Saturday as he placed second in the 1650 freestyle earning All-America honors for the third time this weekend. Brown totaled 41 points in the three events as the only Coast Guard swimmer at the meet, the 41 points placed Coast Guard tied for 19th overall.

Brown's time of 15:43.24 was second to Kenyon's Elliot Rushton who posted an eye-popping time of 15:15.64, a new NCAA Division III meet record.

Brown also earned All-America status in both the 200 and 500 yard freestyle events as he began the weekend by placing sixth in the 500 freestyle finals with a time of 4:35.82 on Thursday and then again placed sixth in the 200 freestyle finals with a time of 1:41.82 on Friday.

Joel Rousseau, an accomplished swimmer from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, has achieved All-America status. The sophomore from Pittsfield, Massachusetts finished third in his specialty, the 100-yard butterfly. The third place finish is believed to be the best by a WPI swimmer in school history.

Joel also became the second WPI male swimmer to achieve All-America status. The first was George Bliss Emerson '32, who finished 8th at the 1931 nationals in the 100 breaststroke. Three females, Mary Jane Hall, Anne Marie Kruglewicz, and Suzanne Call, had previously been named All-American swimmers at WPI, earning their status in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

Wheaton College's sophomore standout Barrett Roberts (Portland, ME/Deering) led the Wheaton team to a 36th-place finish.

Tallying 14.5 points in two events, Roberts became Wheaton's first swimmer in the progam's 14-year history to earn NCAA All-America honors. Roberts finished in a tie for fifth in the 50-yard freestyle event with a time of 20.98.

Roberts followed that performance by reaching the consolation final of Saturday's 100-yard freestyle. Placing 16th overall in the race, he was named NCAA All-America honorable mention with a school-record time of 46.25. Roberts also competed in the 200-yard free on Friday, placing 36th in 1:45.67.

Kenyon won the team championship for the 26th consecutive time, continuing its dominance over the sport.