Feb. 21, 2006

The Match Up

The No. 16 Florida State men’s swimming and diving team will resume competition at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships February 22-25, at the Campus Recreation Center Natatorium in College Park, Md.  The men’s diving portion of the meet was already held February 16-17.  The swimming events will begin on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. with the 800 free and 200 free relays.  Thursday – Saturday, prelims will begin at 11:00 a.m. and finals will start at 7:00 p.m.

Diving Wrap Up

FSU’s top finisher in the 1M, held Feb. 16, was sophomore Alex Tilbrook (Largo, Fla.) who finished fourth with 347.85 points.  Tilbrook was followed by freshmen Scott Derner (Grapevine, Texas) and Daniel Frebel (Fort Wayne, Ind.) who finished fifth (344.25) and sixth (342.65), respectively.  Tilbrook was also FSU’s top finisher in the 1M, Feb. 17, as he took fifth with 322.55.  Frebel finished eighth with 292.55 points.

2005 ACC Championships – Meet Results

Florida State finished second at the last ACC Championships.  Virginia won the overall team championship with 726.5 points was followed by FSU (580), Georgia Tech (429), North Carolina (412), Clemson (323), NC State (321), Virginia Tech (289.5), Maryland (273), Duke (132) and Miami (73).

2005 Returning ACC Champions

The Seminoles only event championship in 2005 came in the 400 free relay.  FSU returns three of the fours legs with senior Joel Roycik (Winter Park, Fla.), junior Alex Kennon (Winter Haven, Fla.) and sophomore Ed Denton (Maidenhead, England).  The fourth member of that relay was Michael Averett, who graduated.  The relay team took gold with an NCAA “B” cut time of 2:57.26.

2005 All-ACC

The Seminoles had seven student-athletes named to the All-ACC team in 2005 and five of them returned to this year’s team.  Denton, Kennon and Roycik earned the honor for their performance in the 400 free relay.  Roycik also registered a pair of third place finishes in the 100 fly (48.10) and 100 free (44.34). Current sophomore Jarryd Botha (Worcester, South Africa) earned the honor as he finished third in the 200 back in 1:46.26 while classmate Billy Jamerson (Savannah, Ga.) recorded a pair of second place finishes in the 100 breast (54.13) and 200 breast (1:59.24).

ACC Championships History

Since joining the ACC in 1992, FSU’s highest finish is second, which they have done six times.  Florida State has finished third – three times, fourth – four times and fifth – once.  In the last three years, FSU has strung together three straight second place finishes.

Dual Meets against the ACC

Florida State finished the regular season a perfect 4-0 against conference competition in dual meets.  The Seminoles opened their 2005-06 season, Oct. 20-21, in College Park, Md. with an ACC quad where they defeated Georgia Tech 227-121, Virginia Tech 229-119 and Maryland 243-105.  FSU’s only other dual meet of the season against a conference opponent came Nov. 12 as they defeat Clemson 143-98.

Five Top Two Relays

Florida State comes into the ACC Championships with all five of their relays possessing a top two time in the conference.  The Seminoles’ 400 free (2:58.26) and 800 free (6:39.65) relays are the best in the ACC.  Both of those relay times were record at the Georgia Tech Invitational, Nov. 18-19.  FSU’s other three relays rank second in the conference.  They swam their best 400 medley relay (3:18.36) also at the Georgia Tech Invitational while they recorded their best times in the 200 free (1:20.40) and 200 medley (1:30.20) relays in a dual meet against Florida, Nov. 22.

Fastest 200 Free in the ACC

Sophomore Carl Marais (Pretoria, South Africa) comes into the ACC Championships with the fastest 200 free time of 1:37.92 in the conference and the 25^th fastest time in Taper & Shave’s College Quick 100.  Marais is the only Seminole who currently ranks first on one of the ACC’s top ten lists.  Marais also ranks in the top ten in the ACC with the seventh fastest 200 back (1:49.50).

Going the Distance

Junior Steve Roof (Canton, Ohio) and sophomore Kyle Young (Oviedo, Fla.) are two of the countries best distance swimmers.  Last season, both earned NCAA All-American honors swimming on FSU’s 800 free relay team that finished 16^th at nationals.  This season, Roof and Young rank in the top ten in the ACC in three categories each.  Roof is second in the 1650 free (15:16.72) and 1000 free (9:09.82), and fourth in the 500 free (4:25.46).  Young is third in the 1650 free (15:19.75) and seventh in the 500 free (4:29.06) and 1000 free (9:16.12).  Roof’s time in the 1000 free ranks 12^th in Taper & Shave’s College Quick 100 while Young’s time ranks 29^th.  Roof also earned the honor of ACC Performer of the Week after his outstanding performance at the ACC quad meet Oct. 21-22.

Four Time?

Coming in to this season, Joel Roycik’s list of ACC honors went like this: three-time All-ACC and two-time ACC champion.  Roycik added to that list in the middle of the season, as he picked up his first career ACC Performer of the Week honors.  He earned the award after picking up wins in two events (100 free and 200 free relay) in a dual meet vs. Florida, Nov. 22.  Roycik comes into the 2006 ACC Championships with the second fastest times in the conference in the 100 free (44.29) and 100 fly (48.30).  His 100 free is 27^th and 100 fly is 17^th in Taper & Shave’s College Quick 100.

Still Jammin’

Billy Jamerson capped off a stellar freshman campaign last year as he earned NCAA All-American honors as a part of the Seminoles’ 800 free relay that placed 16^th at nationals.  This season, Jamerson hasn’t missed a beat as his time of 1:59.56 in the 200 breast ranks second in the conference and 17^th in Taper & Shave’s College Quick 100.  Jamerson also ranks third in the ACC in the 100 breast (55.46) and 26^th in Taper & Shave’s College Quick 100.