Feb. 14, 2009
Maroons Post Best-Ever UAA Finish

CHICAGO -- With 10 NCAA Division III qualifying performances and seven All-University Athletic Association efforts, the University of Chicago men's swimming & diving team finished in fourth place at the 2009 UAA Championship Thursday through Saturday at the Myers-McLoraine Pool in the Ratner Athletics Center.

The fourth-place finish marked Chicago's highest since the UAA's inaugural championship event in 1988. The Maroons had finished fifth each of the past two seasons.

Chicago featured All-UAA performances from three relay teams and four individuals.

The Maroons took top honors in the 400-yard medley relay as junior Brian Young (Douglassville, Pa./ St. Pius), sophomore Ed Wagner (Sheboygan, Wis./ South), senior Alex Stabell (Godfrey, Ill./ Alton), and sophomore James Schlabach (Beverly Hills, Mich./ Groves) clocked a UAA record-setting time of 3:23.76, which was also good for an NCAA Division III provisional-qualifying performance. The foursome became the first ever from Chicago to win the event at the UAA Championship.

Young, Wagner, Stabell, and freshman Marius Aleska (Riverside, Ill./ Riverside-Brookfield) finished third and registered a national provisional-qualifying time in the 200-yard medley relay with a 1:33.79 performance. Aleska, Stabell, freshman Nicolas Santoro (Barrington, Ill./ Barrington), and Schlabach placed third in the championship's final event, the 400-yard freeestyle relay, with a "B" cut time of 3:06.37.

Stabell was the runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly with a provisional-qualifying time of 50.70. Wagner's time of 57.68 in the 100-yard breaststroke was good for third place and a national "B" cut.

Young tied for third place in the 200-yard backstroke with a provisional-qualifying time of 1:53.40, and senior Shane Carlson (Houston, Texas/ Memorial) placed third in the 200-yard individual medley with a 1:54.48 "B" cut.

Three other Maroons also turned in national-qualifying efforts.

Freshman Robert Vanneste (St. Petersburg, Fla./ St. Petersburg IB) clocked a time of 1:54.68 en route to a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, while fellow first-year Paul Morimoto (Hinsdale, Ill./ Central) posted a 4:07.37 clip in the 400-yard individual medley to place 10th in the event.

En route to a fifth-place showing in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the team of junior Tim Everett (Ann Arbor, Mich./ Ann Arbor-Huron), Carlson, Schlabach, and Morimoto turned in a time of 6:55.74.

Emory University won its 11th straight UAA title with 1,694.5 points. Carnegie Mellon University (1,533.5) and Washington University (1,080) placed second and third, respectively, followed by Chicago with 1,057 points.

New York University (1,015), Case Western Reserve University (754.5), the University of Rochester (751), and Brandeis University (416.5) rounded out the team standings.

Results