Cougar Men Struggle in Second Day of NCAA's
MINNEAPOLIS -- A day after Aaron Russell's All-America finish on the 1M board, the Cougar men struggled in day two, recording just one top-20 finish at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis, Minn.
Russell and teammate Devan Porter competed in the 3M diving event, but up against stiff
competition, failed to crack the top 20. Russell finished 24th and Porter, battling a bad back which
prohibits him from warming up, ended up in 32nd place. Texas's Troy Dumais, one of the most
dominant divers in America, won the event to follow up his convincing 1M victory from the day before.
On the other end of the pool, misfortune struck All-American junior Arunas Savickas in the 200 meter free event. Headed into the race ranked fifth, Savickas' goggles flipped up as he hit the water. Savickas was forced to swim with water-filled goggles the entire race, and though his time of 1:48.32 shattered his own Lithuanian national record, Savickas was only able to record a 20th-place finish.
Savickas will get one more opportunity to earn All-American honors for the third consecutive season as he competes in the 200 back tomorrow.