Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
US Open
Swimmers compete at U.S. Open: Day 2
12/02/2005 | 12:00:00 | Swimming & Diving
Dec. 2, 2005
By Matt Crouch
www.siusalukis.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Three Southern Illinois University swimmers qualified in their respective events Friday in the second day of competition at the U.S. Open. The three-day meet is being held at Auburn University's James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, Ala.
Sophomore Antonio Santoro had the top finish among the four SIU swimmers in competition. He made is second B Final of the meet after finishing 15th in the preliminaries for the 200-Meter Freestyle with a time of 1:55.27.
Santoro went on to finish eighth in the B Final (16th overall) with a time of 1:55.73.
Stephan Ackerman followed by qualifying for his second C Final at the U.S. Open. The sophomore swam the 100-Meter Butterfly in 57.10 seconds to finish 24th in the preliminaries.
Ackerman posted an identical 57.10 in the C Final, finishing sixth (22nd overall).
Senior Christian Tinajero qualified for his first U.S. Open event after barely missing the cut Thursday in the 200-Meter Individual Medley.
Tinajero swam the 400-Meter Individual Medley in 4:46.39 to finish 24th in the preliminaries. He then shaved four seconds off of his time to complete the event in 4:42.26 in the C Final, finishing sixth (22nd overall).
Senior Jason Sigler also swam Friday, competing in the 200-Meter Freestyle. The Carbondale, Ill. native swam the event in 2:00.78, finishing 48th in the preliminaries and missing the cut.
Also competing this week is SIU alumnus and 2005 NCAA Championship-qualifier Marcelo Possato. Possato qualified and finished 12th overall Thursday in the 200-Meter Backstroke, and followed it up Friday bu qualifying again, this time in the 100-Meter Backstroke.
Possato finished 11th in the preliminaries with a time of 58.35 seconds, good enough for the B Final. He swam the event in 58.61 in the B Final, finishing fifth (13th overall).
Action continues Saturday morning with preliminary rounds for the day's events. Salukis competing Friday include freshman Dennis Hedo along with Ackerman in the 100-Meter Freestyle, Tinajero in the 200-Meter Breaststroke, Santoro in the 200-Meter Butterfly and Sigler in the 1500-Meter Freestyle.
Information about the U.S. Open can be found here here on USA Swimming's Web site or you can follow the action live with Omega Timing.
Click here for Thursday's recap.
