LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The UMR swimming team got an 11th national qualifier Saturday for the NCAA Division II Championships in the process of winning the Arkansas-Little Rock Invitational.
Two winning performances Saturday night, including a victory in the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, allowed the Miners to finish 47 points ahead of defending national champion Drury in the two-day meet. UMR posted a total of 638 points to Drury's 591. Missouri State finished third with 558 points and Western Kentucky, who beat the Miners in a meet two weeks ago, finished fourth.
The Miners' 11th national qualifier was David Calcara, who earned a berth in the 200-yard breaststroke. Calcara's time of 2:04.92 in the preliminaries earned him the spot along with the 10 who had qualified on Friday for the national meet that starts March 12 in Columbia, Mo. The junior finished third in the finals of the 200-breaststroke behind teammate Zlatan Hamzic, who had a school record time of 2:03.70.
Matt Hug earned a victory in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:39.98 Saturday night, a time that fell under the automatic mark in the event. David Sanchez-Turner took third in 1:43.15 after a 1:42.35 in the preliminary round and Kyle Gordon came in seventh in 1:45.54.
UMR also had a winning effort from its 400-yard freestyle relay team of Mark Chamberlain, Sanchez-Turner, Gordon and Hug with a time of 3:03.61.
Kyle Kammer recorded a second place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.45 in the finals, while Jeff Enge finished third in the 200-yard individual medley in 1:54.28.
Sanchez-Turner took fourth and Gordon finished fifth in the 100-freestyle, with Sanchez-Turner posting a time of 46.21 in the finals and Gordon a mark of 46.51.
The Miners also saw their 200-medley relay team finish under the qualifying standard as Kammer, Hamzic, Chamberlain and Gordon posted a time of 1:33.07 to finish fourth. Brian Howell was sixth in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:54.92.
Miners qualify 10 on opening day in Little Rock
On Friday, the Miners got 10 of their individuals qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships in the opening sessions of the invitational.
Friday’s performances were highlighted by a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke by freshman Hamzic, who won the event in a time of 56.76 seconds. Earlier in the day, Hamzic made his automatic qualifying time with a mark of 56.68 in the event.
UMR also got a second place showing from Hug in the 500-freestyle in 4:31.12 to earn him a berth to the national meet, while Danny Murphy, and Kammer also earned automatic spots and had third place showings in their respective events.
Murphy took third in the 400-yard individual medley in 4:05.10, but his preliminary time of 4:01.86 was well below the standard for nationals.
Kammer reached his automatic time in the preliminaries as well as he posted a school record mark of 1:50.43 in the 200-yard backstroke before taking third in the finals. Enge also made the national meet with his time of 1:51.55, just clearing the standard by 0.04 seconds.
The Miners got an automatic qualifying time from all three of its relay teams that competed Friday. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Gordon, Chamberlain, Sanchez-Turner and Hug, as they recorded a time of 1:23.32 to finish second in the event, while the 800-free quartet of Murphy, Gordon, Andrew Trowbridge and Hug recorded a time of 6:51.31 to make the automatic cut and finish third in the race.
UMR’s 400-yard medley relay team of Kammer, Hamzic, Paul Reinisch and Sanchez-Turner also reached the qualifying standard with a time of 3:24.55 to finish sixth in the race.
Among the other top finishers for the Miners Friday were Gordon, who was third in the 50-freestyle, Enge (sixth in the 400-individual medley), Sanchez-Turner (sixth in the 50-freestyle), David Calcara (sixth in the 100-breaststroke), Trowbridge (seventh in the 500-free), Chamberlain (seventh in the 100-butterfly) and Reinisch (eighth in the 100-butterfly). Zach Lemons also finished eighth in the 400-IM.
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