Miami Men's Swimming and Diving Opens Season Friday
11/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 3, 2004
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HERE THEY COME: The Miami men's swimmers and divers begin their 2004-05 season on Friday, hosting Ohio State, and Saturday, hosting Buffalo. This weekend presents the first two of 12 scored dual or tri-meets.
LAST SEASON AGAINST OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes won handily against Miami the last time the two teams met on Jan. 17, 2004, in Columbus. Ohio State won the meet, 151-86, as the RedHawks earned three first-place finishes out of 13 events. Paul Ricard won the 1650 Free, Griffin Marshall won the 100 Breast in 57.88, and a RedHawk team of Justin Marcy, Andy Amyot, John Grubb and Pat Carroll won the 200 Free Relay. All the Miami winners from the meet are back this year.
LAST SEASON AGAINST BUFFALO: Miami won 135-107 on Nov. 1, 2003, in what was the second meet of the year for Miami that season as well. The RedHawks won five of the 13 events, with Andrew Keefe, now graduated, and Zach Niehaus both winning two events. Now a junior diver, Niehaus won both the one-meter and three-meter competitions, and Keefe won the 100 and 200 Free races. Grubb, Ricard, Marcy and Keefe combined to win the 400 Free Relay for Miami's fifth event win.
STORYLINES:
1. The chase for Miami's seventh MAC title and first since 1999 begins as the RedHawks face a tough Ohio State squad and open the MAC season against Buffalo. Miami went 4-1 against MAC teams last year, losing only to Eastern Michigan.
2. This weekend serves as the first test for Miami without Andrew Keefe, who was a three-time gold medalist at the 2004 MAC Championships and won all but one of Miami's golds at the meet.
HEAD COACH Pete Lindsay: Pete Lindsay enters his 20th season at Miami having led Miami to 17 top-three finishes at the MAC Championships in his 19 previous seasons. In 1997 and 1999, Lindsay guided Miami to its last two conference titles, and the RedHawks have been the only team to knock Eastern Michigan off the top of the MAC podium in Lindsay's tenure. Last season, Lindsay helped Miami to a 4-1 record in the MAC and boasted a three-time gold medalist in Andrew Keefe, who won the 50, 100 and 200 Free races at the 2004 MAC meet. Lindsay has coached 74 Mid-American Conference individual champions, seven MAC Men's Swimmers of the Year and two of Miami's six MAC Championship teams. He has garnered four MAC Coach of the Year awards, earning the honor in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999. Lindsay, who teaches in the physical education department, is the only Miami head coach that is a full-time instructor at the university.
OHIO STATE'S LAST TIME OUT: Ohio State has had two exhibition meets this October to get ready for the RedHawks, also the Buckeyes' opening scored meet. Last season, Ohio State finished eighth of 10 schools at the Big Ten Championships held at Purdue. A Buckeye stood atop the medal stand only once, as diver Mitch Richeson, a senior this year, won the three-meter competition. Richeson was one of two Buckeyes to compete at the NCAA Championships, as fellow diver Kellen Harkness also qualified. Richeson went on to earn all-America status by finishing sixth on the one-meter board.
BUFFALO'S LAST TIME OUT: Saturday is Buffalo's first meet of the season after the Bulls finished fifth at the 2004 MAC Championships at Eastern Michigan. Buffalo came home with two medals from the conference meet, both of which went to diver Patrick Lee. A junior this year, Lee won the silver medal in the three-meter dive and the bronze in the one-meter dive, two spots behind event champ Peter Donohue. Lee was also the only Bull to compete at the NCAA level, taking fifth on the one-meter board and eighth on the three-meter board at the Zone A NCAA diving competition.
Players Mentioned
