Byars Wins 100 Free at A-10 Championships
Feb. 23, 2008
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Saint Louis' Brad Byars qualified first for the championship finals in the 100 free and went on to capture the title by tying his own school record on the final day of competition at the Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. Also on Saturday, Kevin Parker eclipsed his own SLU standard in the 200 fly twice, first in the prelims and again in the championship finals. The Billiken men finished eighth with 257 points and the women's team recorded 215 points for a ninth-place finish. Byars clocked the second-fastest 100-free time (45.33) in SLU history in the prelims. He then tied his school record (45.27), which was established at Southern Illinois on Dec. 8, 2007, in the finals to earn first-place. The senior is the Billikens' first male swimmer to win an A-10 title. In the 200-fly prelims, Parker touched third with a school-record effort of 1:53.53. He finished fourth in the finals, lowering his time to 1:53.30. Stephen Sheridan placed 15th in the consolation finals of the same event with the 10th-fastest performance (1:56.96) in SLU annals. Sheridan qualified for the consolation finals by clocking the sixth-best effort (1:55.80). On the women's side, Anna Larson was the Billikens' top finisher as she placed third on the three-meter board with an 11-dive score of 507.10, which ranks second all-time at Saint Louis. Emily Walter finished seventh (357.30). Elena Ramirez placed fourth in the 200-fly finals (2:05.67), falling short of an A-10 title for the first time in her career. However, her performance in the finals ranks seventh in the Billiken record book and her prelim time (2:06.86) is eighth. Sarah Bennet placed 11th in the consolation finals of the same event with a time of 2:08.93.
In other men's action, Justin Breithaupt and Michael Dahle finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 1650 free. Breithaupt's time of 16:15.15 ranks second on the Billikens' all-time charts while Dahle's 16:22.28 is fourth. Breithaupt also placed 12th in the 200-back finals (1:54.46), and Parker posted a time of 1:52.88 to finish seventh with the third-fastest time in SLU history. In the prelims, Parker recorded the second-best effort (1:52.63) while Breithaupt's time (1:54.57) ranked 10th. Katie Robertson and Kerry Conaty each turned in top-10 performances in the women's 1650 free. Robertson placed 10th with the second-fastest time (17:44.32) in SLU annals while Conaty's performance (18:09.49) ranked seventh. Then Lindsey Tamkun tallied a pair of top 10 times in the 200 back on Saturday. Her 16th-place effort (2:09.03) in the prelims ranks seventh all-time at SLU and her 2:09.54 performance in the consolation finals is 10th. In the men's 200-breast prelims, Joey Frampus finished 16th (2:11.02) with the seventh-best effort in SLU annals. He went on to clock a 2:11.23, a time which ranks all-time at Saint Louis, to move up to 15th-place in the finals. The SLU women placed ninth in the 400-free relay with the third-best performance (3:35.58) in school history. The men's 400-free relay also clocked the third-fastest time (3:07.30) in SLU annals to place seventh. |
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