TCNJ SWIMMERS CONTINUE COMPETITION AT 2009 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Twin Cities, MN…The College of New Jersey's men's swimming team continued competition on Thursday at the 2009 NCAA Division III men's and women's swimming and diving championships, which are being held at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and run through Saturday night.

For the second day in a row, TCNJ's rookie Mike Vernoia (Hillsborough, NJ/Immaculata) excelled in the water for the Lions. In the 200 freestyle event, Vernoia would post the third fastest time in the trials in the race with a 1:38.50 and qualified for the championship finals where he would finish in fourth place and earn All-America honors after posting a time of 1:38.07 in the championship.

TCNJ's men's team opened the day competing in the 200 freestyle relay. The Lions earned a spot in the consolation finals after posting a time of 1:23.44 in the trials and were seeded 16th. The Lion foursome would finish in 15th place to earn All-America Honorable Mention Honors with a time of 1:23.40. Competing for the Lions on the relay were senior Tom Nawrot (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick), freshman Kevin Cain (Absecon, NJ/Holy Spirit), rookie Ryan Clark (Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine), and sophomore Shawn Kircher (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East).

In the 400 individual medley event, sophomore Tim Rauch (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) would post a time of 4:06.47 but did not qualify for the finals. Competing in the 100 butterfly race, Cain and junior James VanBiervliet (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) posted times of 51.86 and 53.04, respectively but did not advance.

TCNJ had five swimmers in the 200 freestyle race as senior tri-captain Mike Heaney (Voorhees, NJ/Bishop Eustace), sophomore Tom Medvecky (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway), senior Mike Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East), Kircher, and Vernoia all competed.

Kircher just missed the consolation finals after taking 17th place in 1:40.47, while Molloy posted a time of 1:42.24 but did not qualify for the finals. Medecky and Heaney had trial times of 1:43.31 and 1:43.73 but did not advance either.

TCNJ would close the second day of competition in the 400 medley relay as Nawrot, junior Myles O'Connor (Santa Monica, CA), Medvecky, and Vernoia posted a time of 3:22.16 in the trials and finished ninth in the morning to qualify for the consolation finals. They would improve upon their time in the consolation finals finishing in ninth place in 3:21.81 to earn All-America honorable mention honors.