March 8, 2008

LONG BEACH, CALIF. - In the final morning prelim session, the No. 11-ranked University of California men's swimming team was led by senior William Copeland, who sits in first place in the 100 free heading into Saturday night's final of the 2008 Pac-10 Conference Swimming Championships, hosted at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, Calif.

Copeland continued his outstanding meet, placing first in the 100 free prelims with an NCAA automatic mark of 43.03. Fellow senior Joe Whittington was eighth in the prelim with an NCAA consideration time of 43.59. In the 200 back, junior standout David Russell placed second in the prelims with an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 1:42.77, while senior Mark Eckert was third (NCAA consideration 1:43.85), senior Louis Vayo fifth (NCAA consideration 1:44.30) and sophomore Aaron Casey seventh (NCAA consideration 1:45.29).

In the 200 breast prelim, sophomore Sean Mahoney was fifth with an NCAA consideration time of 1:57.44, and freshman Martti Aljand placed sixth with an NCAA consideration time of 1:57.49. Finally, in the 200 fly sophomore Matt Scanlan placed sixth in the prelims with an NCAA consideration time of 1:46.82.