March 7, 2000.....Contact: John Kean.....Phone: 573-341-4140

SWIMMERS SEEK TO FINISH AMONG TOP 10 AGAIN AT NATIONALS

ROLLA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team will seek to finish among the top 10 in the nation for the fourth straight year when its nine swimmers begin competition Wednesday at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships. The meet will take place in Buffalo, N.Y.

The Miners finished seventh a year ago, and had finishes of third in 1998 and seventh in 1997. Head coach Doug Grooms' approach to the meet is simple -- just go out and make your best effort, and see where they stand when the smoke clears.

"It basically comes down to everyone swimming well," Grooms said. "If everyone swims a lifetime best, we are going to score, and then we'll just let the chips fall where they may."

The Miners, who were ranked seventh in the final Division II rankings of the season, who have nine individuals in the meet and all of them will swim in both individual and relay events. Several have times among the best in the nation heading into the meet.

Dave Belleville (Chesterfield, Mo./Marquette) enters the meet with the second-best time in the 50-yard freestyle at 20.53 seconds, a time that set a new school record when it was posted in December. Belleville will also swim in the 100-freestyle where he is ranked fifth at 45.70 and in all five relays for the Miners.

Bruno Amizic (Split, Croatia) has the third-best mark in Division II in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events. He had a time of 57.14 in the 100-yard event and 2:04.86 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Jeremy Evans (Bloomington, Ill./Normal) is ranked seventh in the 100- breaststroke at 57.59, while David Nurre (Lewisville, Texas) has the 10th-best time in the 200- yard freestyle at 1:41.76 and is also slated to swim in the 100- and 500-yard freestyle events.

The other Miner competitors will be Steve Caruso (Florissant, Mo./Hazelwood Central) in both individual medley races and the 200-yard butterfly; Vanja Dezelic (Zagreb, Croatia) in the 200-, 500-, and 1,650-yard freestyle; Josh Jolly (Conway, Ark.) in both backstroke races; Mike Lach (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission West) in the 50-yard freestyle; and Matt Scott (Ballwin, Mo./DeSmet) in both butterfly races.

All nine UMR swimmers are expected to compete in at least one relay.

Grooms has been pleased with the work the Miners have done to date in preparation for nationals.

"Our workouts have been very good," he said. "We have been steadily looking better each day and our confidence is growing. We are really looking forward to this meet."

Eight of the nine going to nationals -- Lach is the exception -- competed at last year's national meet. The Miners figure to be in competition for a spot below the top two, which are expected to be defending champion Drury and California State-Bakersfield. UMR's top competition will likely come from California-Davis and North Dakota for the third position.

"The third through eighth spots should be competitive," Grooms said. "It still boils down to being able to perform at the time. All signs are pointing to good things happening right now -- we are fully rested and all of them have handled the pressures of the NCAA meet except for Mike, but he has had his best performances in our two biggest meets of the year."

Following is the event schedule for the Miners this week:

Wednesday, March 8:
500-yard freestyle: Dezelic, Nurre
200-yard individual medley: Caruso
50-yard freestyle: Belleville, Lach
200-yard medley relay

Thursday, March 9:
200-yard freestyle relay
400-yard individual medley: Caruso
100-yard butterfly: Scott
200-yard freestyle: Dezelic, Nurre
400-yard medley relay

Friday, March 10:
200-yard butterfly: Caruso, Scott
100-yard backstroke: Jolly
100-yard breaststroke: Amizic, Evans
800-yard freestyle relay

Saturday, March 11:
1,650-yard freestyle: Dezelic
100-yard freestyle: Belleville, Nurre
200-yard backstroke: Jolly
200-yard breaststroke: Amizic
400-yard freestyle relay

Nightly results of the national meet will be available at the UMR Athletics web site at www.umr.edu/~sports.