8th of 9 at NCAC championship

Feb. 14-16, 2008

Sophomore David Gatz (Delaware/Hayes) won a pair of North Coast Athletic Conference championships to lead Ohio Wesleyan at the NCAC championship meet from Thursday through Saturday in Canton.
Official championship site

Kenyon won the championship with 1633 points to 1598 for Denison. Wabash was third with 1066 points, followed by Wittenberg (768), Wooster (740), Allegheny (477), Hiram (432), Ohio Wesleyan (405) and Oberlin (327).

Gatz won conference titles in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. He clocked a :57.15 in the 100 breaststroke, breaking the school record of :57.57 he set in the preliminaries of the event earlier in the day and shaving more than a second and a half off the school record of :58.66 he set last year, and surpassing the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III championship meet. In the 200 breaststroke, he clocked a 2:05.17, breaking the school record of 2:06.37 he set in the preliminaries of the event earlier in the day and shaving more than 2 seconds off the school record of 2:07.26 he set earlier this season, and surpassing the provisional qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III championship meet. Gatz also finished 19th in the 200 IM.

Other standouts for the Bishops included sophomore Jaimito Fuentes (Massillon/Glen Oak), who finished seventh in the 200 breaststroke, 10th in the 100 breaststroke and 20th in the 200 IM; sophomore Brad Russell (Delaware/Hayes), who placed 10th in the 1-meter diving and 11th in the 3-meter diving; sophomore Kevin Fahey (Delaware/Hayes), who was 15th in the 400 IM and 20th in the 200 backstroke and the 500 freestyle; sophomore Nathaniel Cook (Delaware/Hayes), who was 19th in the 200 breaststroke and 23rd in the 100 breaststroke; sophomore Christopher Potterton (Needham, Mass.), who finished 21st in the 1650 freestyle; sophomore Usman Javaid (Lahore, Pakistan/Aitchison), who placed 23rd in the 200 butterfly; and junior Brian Fahey (Delaware/Hayes), who placed 24th in the 100 breaststroke.

Kevin Fahey, Gatz, sophomore Usman Javaid (Lahore, Pakistan/Aitchison) and Fuentes combined to place sixth in the 200 medley relay, eighth in the 400 medley relay and ninth in the 800 freestyle relay.

The Bishop 400 freestyle relay team of Fahey, junior Todd Ufferman (Delaware/Hayes), Javaid and Fuentes finished eighth, as did the 200 freestyle relay team of senior Robert Naples (Hamden, Conn./Notre Dame), Cook, sophomore Andrew Sisson (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) and Ufferman.