6 Hawkeyes to Compete at NCAA Championships

March 25, 2013

Complete Release

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa men’s swimming and diving team will be represented by six swimmers at the 2013 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships on March 28-30 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Byron Butler, Jordan Huff, Andrew Marciniak, Grant Betulius, Daivd Ernstsson, and Roman Trussov will participate at the championships.

Adult tickets are $75 (chairback) or $65 (bleacher) and include all preliminary and final sessions over the three days of competition. Youth, student and senior citizen pricing is available for $75 (chairback) or $50 (bleacher). Tickets can be puchasesed at NCAA.com/tickets or by phone at (800) 745-3000.

LIVE STATS
For live results from your computer or smart phone, visit: http://www.swmeets.com/Realtime/NCAA/2013/

A live webstream is available at http://www.ihigh.com/indianasportscorp/ for Thursday (prelims and finals), Friday (prelims), and Saturday (prelims).

For finals sessions on Friday and Saturday, access the feed at www.espn3.com.

TV BROADCASTING
ESPN3.com will stream championship finals session on March 29 and the preliminaries and finals on March 30.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY NATATORIUM
The UI Natatorium is composed of three pools, the competition pool, instructional pool, and the diving well. The three pools combined hold more than 2.1 million gallons of water. With 11 World records and 90 American records set broken at the UI Natatorium, the competition pool is said to be one of the fastest pools in the world.

FOLLOW THE HAWKEYES
Become fans of the official Iowa swimming and diving Facebook page by going to http://www.facebook.com/IowaSwimmingandDiving. Fans can also follow the black and gold on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/IowaHawkeyeSwim.

MEET THE HAWKEYES
Byron Butler — Leads team in the 100 fly (47.05). He set the school record in the 100 fly (47.05) at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. He swam on team-leading 200 (1:25.82) and 400 (3:10.18) medley relays. Both relay times are school records set at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. Butler will compete in the 200 and 400 medley and 800 free relays at the NCAA Championships.

Jordan Huff — Huff will be making his third-straight NCAA Championship appearance, as he earned honorable mention All-America honors in each of the past two seasons. He holds the school record in the 200 (1:19.82), 400 (2:56.07), and 800 (6:26.79) free relays. He swam on team-leading 200 (1:25.82) and 400 (3:10.18) medley relays. Both relay times are school records set at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. Huff will compete in the 200 and 400 medley relays at the NCAA Championships.

Grant Betulius — Betulius broke the 100 back school record leading off the 400-medley relay (46.76) at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. He swam on team-leading 200 (1:20.5), 400 (2:57.15), and 800 free relays (6:32.75). His time in 100 fly ranks seventh in school history (48.41) and his time in the 200 back ranks third in school history (1:44.22).

Roman Trussov — Leads team in the 200 breast (1:55.84). His time marks a school record. His time in the 200 breast (1:55.84) ranks 18th nationally, and his time in the 100 breast ranks 37th nationally. The Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, native was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Nov. 6. He swam on team-leading 200 (1:25.82 ) and 400 (3:10.18) medley relays. Both relay times are school records set at the 2013 Big Ten Championships

David Ernstsson — The freshman will make his debut at the 2013 NCAA Championships. He swam on team-leading 200 (1:25.82 ) and 400 (3:10.18) medley relays. Both relay times are school records set at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. He will compete in the 200 and 400 medley relays at the NCAA Championships.

Andrew Marciniak — Set the school record in the 200 breast (1:56.54) at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. He swam on team-leading 200 (1:25.82 ) and 400 (3:10.18) medley relays. Both relay times are school records set at the 2013 Big Ten Championships. The junior will make his debut at the NCAA Championships competing in the 200 and 400 medley relays.

Butler, Huff, Marciniak and Ernstsson will compete in the 200-medley relay. The squad posted an NCAA `A’ cut time during the Big Ten Championships with a time of 1:17.61. The time (1:25.84) ranks 16th-best time nationally in the 200-medley relay.

The quartet of Butler, Huff, Marciniak and Ernstsson will compete in the 400-medley relay at the championships after automatically qualifying for the relay at the Big Ten Championships with a time of 3:10.18. Their time in the 400-medley relay ranks 18th in the nation. Huff, Betulius, Ernstsson, and Butler will compete in the 800-free relay.

2012 NCAA REVIEW
The Hawkeyes earned three relay honorable All-America mention recognition in the 200, 400, and 800 free relays during the 2012 NCAA Championships. Iowa collected 20 points to finish 26th overall at the championships.

Ryan Phelan, Duncan Partridge, Giani Sesto and Paul Gordon collected an 11th place finish in the 200 free relay (1:18.30) to claim honorable mention All-America honors.

The team of Jordan Huff, Sesto, Phelan and Gordon garnered honorable mention All-America recognition in the 800 free relay on the second day of the championships. The Hawkeyes finished 15th among 17 relay squads with a time of 6:29.33

Partridge, Phelan, Huff and Gordon touched the wall in a time of 2:54.19 to place 15th in 400-free relay. Their time of 2:54.22 ranks third on Iowa’s all-time top performers list and marked Iowa’s third honorable mention All-America recognition at the 2012 NCAA Championships.

2013 BIG TEN REVIEW
The Hawkeyes collected 245 points to finish seventh at the 2013 Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa recorded an NCAA Championship “A” qualifying time and two school records on the first day of the championships. Sophomores Grant Betulius and Korey Schneider, and seniors Byron Butler and Jordan Huff posted an NCAA “A” time in the 200-medley relay. The squad finished fifth and posted a school record time of 1:25.82. Betulius, freshman Roman Trussov, Butler and Huff posted an NCAA `A’ qualifying time (3:10.18) in the 400-medley relay to finish third. Betulius broke the 100 back school record leading off the relay (46.76). The squad’s time is a Hawkeye school record. Iowa went on to collect three more records on day three of the championships. Butler posted a school record in the 100 butterfly during the morning preliminaries, swimming a time of 47.05. During the 100 breast “B” final, junior Andrew Marciniak swam to a school record in 53.59 to finish 11th overall. Betulius bettered his own school record in the 100 backstroke “A” final. He swam a time of 46.70 to post a sixth-place finish. Iowa posted two school records on the final day of the championships. Marciniak broke the school record in the 200 breast during the morning prelims (1:56.54). Butler broke a school record in the 200 back `B’ final, touching the wall in 1:43.59. His time is a NCAA `B’ cut.

WEEKLY HONORS
Freshman Roman Trussov was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Nov. 6. The honor marked the first of Trussov’s career and the first for a Hawkeye men’s swimmer.

The Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, native earned the accolade after posting two first, one second and one fifth place finish in Iowa’s dual meet at 13th-ranked Minnesota on Nov. 2. Trussov took first place in the 100 breast (55.08) and 200 breast (2:00.60) and finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:29.93).

IOWA IN BIG TEN HISTORY
Iowa has won three Big Ten team titles in school history (1936, 1981, 1982), and crowned 105 individual conference champions (76 in individual events, 23 in relays and eight in diving).

Three Hawkeyes have earned Swimmer of the Championships honors – Artur Wojdat (1991, 1992), Rafal Szukala (1994) and Ales Abersek (2000). Wojdat was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year three times (1990, 1991, 1992), while former Hawkeye John Davey earned the honor twice (1987, 1988). Former diving coach Bob Rydze was the Big Ten diving coach of the year three times (1985, 1986 and 1995).

Two Hawkeye divers top the list of all-time Big Ten top performers. Timo Klami scored a 625.60 on one-meter (11 dives) in 2003, while Randy Abelman posted a 448.20 on three-meter (6 dives) in 1981.

Iowa won its last Big Ten individual swimming titles in 2000 when Ales Abersek took the 100 (47.68) and 200 fly (1:44.93) crowns and Jay Glenn won the 200 free (1:36.84). Iowa’s last Big Ten diving champion was Klami on three-meter (596.40) in 2003. Iowa won two relays in 2012 — the 200 and 400 free relays. Ryan Phelan, Duncan Partridge, Gianni Sesto and Paul Gordon won the 200-free in 1:17.61, while Partridge, Phelan, Jordan Huff and Gordon won the 400-free in 2:52.53.

HEAD COACH Marc Long
Marc Long is in his ninth season as head coach for the University of Iowa swimming team. It’s his eighth as head coach of the combined program. During his tenure as head coach of both programs, 54 school records have fallen and 93 Hawkeyes have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.

DIVING COACH Todd Waikel
Todd Waikel began his duties as the University of Iowa diving coach in July 2012. Waikel, who was the assistant diving coach at Indiana for seven seasons, replaced long time UI diving coach Bob Rydze. Waikel comes to Iowa City with an impressive collegiate and national diving resume. He helped the Hoosiers to five Big Ten Conference titles (four women’s, one men’s) and three top 10 NCAA finishes in his seven seasons. He also has coached 10 USA Diving National Teams to titles since 2006.

IOWA SWIMMING HISTORY & TRADITION
Since 1917, the University of Iowa swimming and diving program has been rich in tradition. Iowa was one of the first schools in the nation to compete on a collegiate level, and competed at the first NCAA Championship. From 1937 to 1960, Iowa placed in the NCAA top 10 18 times, crowning nine NCAA and 22 Big Ten champions. In its 93-year history, the Iowa men’s team has produced 17 Olympians, 26 NCAA champions and 382 All-Americans.

NEXT EVENT
The Hawkeyes return to action April 13, hosting the Long Course Intrasquad Meet in Iowa City.