February 21, 2000.....Contact: John Kean.....Phone: 573-341-4140

MINERS PLACE SECOND IN CENTRAL STATES INVITATIONAL

ROLLA, Mo.--The University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team used a strong performance on the final day of the Central States Invitational to pass Truman State and finish second in the three-day meet.

The Miners finished with a total of 662 points, which was well ahead of Truman State's total of 606. Truman was in second, barely ahead of the Miners, after each of the first two days. Pre- meet favorite Drury won with a total of 946 points.

UMR made the up the difference in three events in particular. The Miners placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay and had five of the top eight finishers in the 100-yard freestyle as well as four of the top eight in the 200-butterfly.

The team of Dave Belleville (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette), David Nurre (Lewisville, Texas), Jeremy Evans (Bloomington, Ill./Normal) and Mike Lach (Lenexa, Kan./Shawnee Mission West) finished second to Drury in a time of 3:06.08, a time that surpassed the national cut time in the event.

Belleville also placed second behind Drury's Valentin Serafimov in the 100-freestyle in a time of 46.18, while Nurre was third in 47.46 and Lach fourth in 47.82. Kris Leftwich (Decatur, Ill.)came in seventh and John Reiter (St. Louis, Mo.) was eighth to give the Miners five finishers in the finals. Belleville and Lach were also second and third, respectively, in the 50-freestyle, with Belleville posting a time of 21.15 seconds and Lach a 21.54.

In the 200-butterfly, Jeff Raggett (Germantown, Tenn.) came in third place in 1:54.81, while Steve Caruso was fifth in 1:56.67 and Matt Scott (Ballwin, Mo./DeSmet) sixth in 1:57.68. John Cochran (Rayville, La.) placed eighth in that event.

Bruno Amizic (Split, Croatia) placed third in the 200-breaststroke, as he did in the 100- breaststroke on Saturday, by posting a time of 2:07.64. Sean Garceau (San Diego, Calif./Moiunt Carmel) placed eighth in the event in 2:11.85. Garceau had a fourth-place finish earlier in the meet in the 200-individual medley in 1:56.93.

UMR had three of the top seven finishers in the 1,650-yard freestyle, with Vanja Dezelic (Zagreb, Croatia) placing fifth in 17:04.57, Rob Reiss (The Woodlands, Texas) sixth in 17:11.11, and Cochran seventh in 17:13.99. Meanwhile, Josh Jolly (Conway, Ark.) and Ben Karstens (Littleton, Colo./Dakota Ridge) placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 200-backstroke. Jolly's time was 1:58.76 and Karstens' was 1:59.74.

The Miners' top finish on Saturday came from Amizic, who placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 58.66. Garceau placed fifth in that event as well in 59.89 seconds. Raggett placed fourth in the 100-butterfly in 51.75, while Scott was right behind him in 51.95. Nurre also had a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:44.74, while Belleville was sixth in 1:45.12.

The eight Miners who will take part in the NCAA Division II Championships will begin competition on March 8 in Buffalo, N.Y.