April 1, 2002

ATHENS, Ga.- With four more points on Saturday's final day of competition, the Pittsburgh men's swimming and diving team finished 24th at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., over the weekend.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Max Von Bodungen (Malmo, Sweden/Borgarskolan), Mike Grube (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby), Adam Webber (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) and Miah Heath (Estes Park, Colo./Estes Park) finished in 15th place to earn four team points. Their finishing time of 2:57.62 topped host Georgia in the consolation final.

The Panthers qualified for the consolation final with a prelims time of 2:57.26 to place them 14th out of 19 teams.

The only other finals qualifier was Eric Limkemann (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan), but Limkemann struggled in finishing 28th out of 28 swimmers in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:47.10.

In preliminary action on Saturday afternoon, Kenny Shelhorse (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) placed 26th out of 35 swimmers in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 1:46.71.

In the 100 freestyle, the Panthers had their top individual finish from Grube, who touched the wall in 25th place with a time of 44 seconds flat, barely off the school record he holds. Heath finished in 43rd place with a time of 44.92 seconds and Von Bodungen was in 49th with a time of 45.29 seconds.

Sophomore Randy Gertenbach (El Centro, Calif./Paradise Valley) swam the 200 breaststroke in 2:02.91 to finish in 33rd place out of 37 swimmmers.

The eight NCAA qualifiers for the Panthers at this weekend's Championships were a school record.