February 3, 2000.....Contact: John Kean.....Phone: 573-341-4140

MINER SWIMMERS HOST DOUBLE DUAL, WOMEN'S MEET FRIDAY

ROLLA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team will play host to two meets Friday evening, as Southwest Missouri State University and Truman State University will bring their men's and women's teams to the UMR Pool for meets.

The men's double dual meet will take place at the same time as a women's meet between the two visiting schools, including the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II. The meet is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in the pool in the Gale Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.

The Miners are coming off a dominating performance over the past weekend at the Washington University Invitational, where they won the meet by close to 300 points and won all but one event.

UMR swept the five relays and also got wins in three events from Dave Belleville (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette). Belleville swept the sprint relays, winning the 50-yard event in 21.39 seconds, the 100 in 46.64 setting a new pool record in the process and the 200 in 1:46.24.

UMR also got two winning performances each from Bruno Amizic (Split, Croatia), Ben Karstens (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge), with Amizic winning the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, and Karstens emerging victorious in the 200-backstroke and 400-individual medley. Amizic's mark of 57.14 seconds in the 100-breaststroke still ranks as the top time this season in Division II.

The Miners also got wins from David Nurre (Lewisville, Texas) in the 500-freestyle, Sean Garceau (San Diego, Calif./Mount Carmel) in the 200-individual medley, Vanja Dezelic (Zagreb, Croatia) in the 1,650-yard freestyle, Josh Jolly (Conway, Ark.) in the 100-backstroke and Steve Caruso (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) in the 200-yard butterfly.

UMR enters the weekend meet ranked third in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Division II rankings, while Truman State is ranked seventh. The Bulldogs are coming off a win at the Bradley Invitational in their most recent competition. Southwest Missouri State is 8-3 in dual meets this season and beat the Miners at the Arkansas-Little Rock Invitational in December.

Truman State's women, meanwhile, are the top-ranked team in Division II heading into the weekend. The Bulldogs have two national leaders in their events in Liz Hug and Bridget Riley, while all three of their freestyle relay teams also rank first in the nation. Southwest Missouri State is 6-5 in dual meets this year and finished second to Truman in a multi-team event in Kirksville back in December.

Friday's meet will be the last home meet for the Miners and last for the team prior to the Central States Championships, which begins Feb. 18 in Springfield, Mo.