Six Bridgeport Men’s Swimmers Ready To Compete At 2012 NCAA Division II Championships

Bridgeport, Conn.-Six University of Bridgeport men's swimmers are Texas-bound on Monday to begin their final preparations for the 2012 NCAA Division II Championships that will be held at the Mansfield Independent School District Natatorium beginning on Wednesday, March 14.  The 2012 UB Swimming "National Team" is led by sophomore co-captain, and defending NCAA 100-yard Backstroke Champion, Oscar Pereiro (Arzua, Spain), who is also the sole returning member of the 2011 NCAA Championship 200-yard Freestyle & Medley Relays.  Joining Pereiro on this year's squad at nationals are juniors Ilkka Hanhineva (Pietarsaari, Finland) and Krzysztof Wilk (Krakow, Poland), sophomore Ruben Gimenez (Burgos, Spain) plus freshmen Vlad Paskas (Zrenjanin, Serbia) and Matheus Lima (Santos, Brazil).  The six combined to qualify for the NCAAs in three relays (200-yard & 400-yard Freestyle and 400-yard Medley) while Pereiro, Gimenez and Hanhineva qualified in a total of two individual events each.  As a result of qualifying for the championships, all six swimmers will have the opportunity to swim any event they also achieved an NCAA "B" standard in. 

The last year's UB Men's Swimming Team, in only the second season of the program, finished sixth overall at the 2011 NCAA Championships, with just four swimmers, and the Purple Knights look to improve on that impressive finish with the six they have in action this year.  University of Bridgeport head coach Brad Flood believes his charges are ready to perform well after placing second overall and winning the NCAA D I & II Division at the 2012 METRO Championships held three weeks ago. 

The 2012 NCAA Division II Championship Meet begins Wednesday, March 12 and continues through Saturday, March 17.  Preliminaries will begin each day at 10:30 a.m. central time (11:30 a.m. eastern) and Finals begin at 6:00 p.m. central (7:00 p.m. eastern).  Live video and results links are available as well, so please check www.ncaa.com or www.ubknights.com to log on.

Link to Event Schedule:

http://www.ncaa.com/news/swimming-men/article/2011-11-19/detailed-championship-schedule

2012 Events At NCAA Nationals For UB Swimmers:

Ruben Gimenez: 
Wed. 3/14-50 Freestyle and 200 Med. Relay
Thurs. 3/15-200 Free Relay and 400 Med. Relay
Fri. 3/16-100 Breaststroke
Sat. 3/17-100 Freestyle and 400 Free Relay

Ilkka Hanhineva:
Wed. 3/14-200 Med. Relay
Thurs. 3/15-100 Butterfly and 400 Med. Relay
Fri. 3/16-200 Breaststroke
Sat. 3/17-1650 Freestyle

Matheus Lima: 
Fri. 3/16-100 Backstroke and 800 Free Relay
Sat. 3/17-200 Backstroke and 400 Free Relay

Oscar Pereiro: 
Wed. 3/14-50 Freestyle and 200 Med. Relay
Thurs. 3/15-200 Free Relay and 400 Med. Relay
Fri. 3/16-100 Backstroke
Sat. 3/17-100 Freestyle and 400 Free Relay

Vlad Paskas: 
Wed. 3/14-1,000 Freestyle
Thurs. 3/15-200 Freestyle, 200 Free Relay and 400 Med. Relay
Fri. 3/16-500 Freestyle and 800 Free Relay
Sat. 3/17-100 Freestyle and 400 Free Relay

Krzysztof Wilk: 
Wed. 3/14-50 Freestyle and 200 Med. Relay
Thurs. 3/15-200 Freestyle and 200 Free Relay
Fri. 3/16-800 Free Relay
Sat. 3/17-100 Freestyle and 400 Free Relay

Article contributed by Raluca Duma