University Southern California Trojans
USC Places Sixth at NCAA Men's Swimming Championships
June 21, 1999 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 27, 1999
INDIANAPOLIS - Senior All-American Bela Szabados took fourth in the 200 free and sophomore All-American Justin Dumais was third in the platform as both made their third championship finals appearances of the meet to highlight USC's final day at the 1999 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at Indiana on Saturday.
USC finished sixth with 286.5 points. Auburn won its second title in the sport with 467.5. Defending champion Stanford was second with 414.5, followed by Texas (356.5), California (300.5), Arizona (296) and USC.
Szabados became USC's first men's swimmer to final in three individual events since Dave Wharton did it in 1991. Dumais became USC's first diver to final in all three specialties since Brian Earley did it in 1994.
"Bela had a spectacular meet," USC Coach Mark Schubert said. "He did his best times in all three of his events. He was a terrific team leader and I'm proud of what he did. Mark Warkentin scoring in three events as a freshman was special. We had some guys who were freshmen in the meet that stepped up like Ryosuke Imai, Slawek Richter, Leonardo Costa and Gave Woodward, and they'll be that much better next year."
Dumais made his first appearance in the NCAA finals in the platform and took third, his second third-place finish of the meet. Dumais, who was 13th in the platform last year, improved his finish in all three diving events this year.
"I was really pleased with the way Justin competed," USC Diving Coach Jeff Shaffer said. "This field was much tougher than last year. He'll learn from his mistakes and will work hard to become more consistent."
Szabados, who entered the evening with second-place finishes in the 200 and 500 free, finished fourth in the 100 free in 43.23. His prelim time of 43.15 was less than two-tenths of a asecond off of the USC record in the event and makes him the second-fastest Trojan ever in the event.
Costa competed in his first career NCAA finals and finished sixth in the 200 back in a season-best 1:43.57.
The Trojans' 400 free relay team of Woodward, sophomore Philippe Demers, senior Mike Williams and Szabados finished sixth in a season-best 2:55.11.
