College Station, TX - The University of Florida men's swimming and diving team had an impressive final day, winding up in fifth place at the 2001 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at Texas A&M's Student Recreation Center on Saturday. The Gators scored 265 points over the meet's three days. This is the highest finish for the men since they finished third in 1991 and the first time both the men and women's teams from UF finished in the top 10 since 1996 when the men finished 10th and the women were seventh. The 265 points and fifth place finish are up from last season's ninth-place finish and 207 points. Texas finished as the NCAA Champion for the second season in a row, scoring 597.5 points in the meet.

"We were solid every day of the meet and every guy scored," Florida head coach Gregg Troy said. "I couldn't be prouder of the effort our guys gave. We came out of the blocks fast every day and we scored in every event we were in (all but the 200-yard freestyle). It was a true team effort. We have a great coaching staff, our assistants are outstanding and do a great job."

In the 200-yard butterfly, junior Duncan Sherrard (Lakeland, Fla./Bartow) had the top overall performance in the preliminaries, touching the wall in 1:44.15. In the finals, Sherrard placed second with a time of 1:43.18. Senior Greg Reeves (Tallahassee, Fla./Leon) came in third place in the finals of the 200 fly with a time of 1:43.44 after finishing fourth in the preliminaries, swimming the event in 1:44.34. Junior Eric Donnelly (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney) qualified for the consolation finals in the event, coming in fourth with a time of 1:44.81. In the preliminaries, Donnelly came in 15th, touching the wall in 1:45.31.

In the 1,650-yard freestyle, which only had a finals round, senior Ricardo Monasterio (Caracas, Venezuela/Indian River CC) represented the Gators, coming in 12th with a time of 15:02.90.

Freshman Carlos Jayme (Goias, Brazil/Annapolis) finished sixth in the preliminaries of the 100-yard freesrtyle with a time of 43.31. In the championship finals of the event, Jayme swam the event in 43.27 to finish in sixth place. Jayme's time in the finals ranks third in UF history. Also in the 100 free, senior Nathan Summers (Pensacola, Fla./Brooke Point) swam in the consolation finals after finishing 14th in the preliminaries with a time of 43.73. In the consolation finals, Summers touched the wall in 44.31 to finish eighth.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of junior Jim Kostowicz (Longwood, Fla./Ohio State), Summers, junior Hendrik Odendaal (Stellenbosh, South Africa/Paul Roos Gymnasium) and Jayme finished fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 2:54.87. In the finals, the team of Summers, Odendaal, Sherrard and Jayme came in sixth, touching the wall in 2:54.05.

Sophomore Ansel Tjin-A-Tam (Paramaribo, Suriname/Bolles) finished seventh in the consolation finals of the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:58.72 after finishing 12th in the preliminaries, swimming the event in 1:58.52.

Junior Mike Jansen (Wellington, Fla./Wellington) and freshman Chris Kellam (Mt. Juliet, Tenn./Montgomery Bell Academy) each reached the consolation finals of the 200-yard backstroke after finishing ninth and 10th respectively in the preliminaries. In the consolation finals, Kellam finished second with a time of 1:44.19 and Jansen came in fourth, touching the wall in 1:44.88.

Junior diver Hank Richardson (Houston, Tex./Memorial) came in ninth in the preliminaries of the platform diving competition, scoring 472.50 points and narrowly missing a spot in the finals.