Minneapolis, Minn. … The College of New Jersey men’s swimming and diving team capped an outstanding week at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships held in Minneapolis, Minnesota by placing 6th overall in the nation with 193 points.
In all, seven Lions swimmers earned All-American honors in nine different events. TCNJ performed at a high level for four straight days at the national event, and only two of those seven swimmers were seniors, a fact that bodes very well for the future of the Lions program.
Sophomore
Mike Vernoia (Hillsborough,NJ/Immaculata) had an outstanding week at the NCAAs. He placed second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.28 and added another second place finish in the 200-free posting a time of 1:38.80.
Senior
Myles O'Connor (Santa Monica, CA/Homeschool) was also a national runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke. O’Connor finished with a time of 55.15 to earn All-American honors. O’Connor came back on the final night of the championships to take 7th in the 200-yard breast with a time of 2:03.10.
After taking 11th place in the 100-yard butterfly (49.96) to claim All-American honorable mention honors, junior
Tom Medvecky (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) placed seventh in the 200-fly posting a time of 1:50.60 to break his own school record. Medvecky became the third men's TCNJ swimmer to earn All-American status in an individual event.
Four more Lions athletes received All-American accolades for their performances in relay races. Seniors
James VanBiervliet (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough), O'Connor, freshman Adam
Schneider (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East), and junior
Shawn Kircher (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) posted a time of 1:31.45 in the 200-yard medley relay to place sixth.
Schneider also finished 11th in the 50-free with a time of 20.52 breaking TCNJ's school record to gain honorable mention acclaim.
VanBiervliet, O'Connor, Medvecky, and Vernoia raced to a seventh-place finish in the 400 medley relay. The foursome added to their All-American awards finishing in 3:21.83.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Schneider, Medvecky, sophomore
Ryan Clark (Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine), and Kircher took sixth place with a time of 1:22.45 to earn All-American citations. Vernoia teamed up with Medvecky, Kircher, and Clark to place fifth in the 800-free relay with a time of 6:39.69.
Kenyon College was the overall winner claiming the 2010 national championship.
Meet results