March 15, 2007

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Junior Adam Brown and freshman Jared Zimmer became Lewis University's third and fourth All-America swimmers in program history, and senior Michael Lapustin earned the fifth All-America honor of his career during the first day of competition at the NCAA Division II championships.

Brown, swimming at his first NCAA championship, earned Lewis' highest place ever at nationals with a fifth-place showing in the 1000 freestyle. His time of 9:26.28 earned All-America recognition and set a Lewis school record.

Zimmer, also appearing in his first championship, took 13th in the same race (9:40.38), earning All-America honorable mention. Lapustin also received All-America honorable mention by finishing 11th fastest in the 200 IM (1:54.26).

The Lewis men sit in 11th place overall after the first day.

"We had a great start to the weekend," said head coach Steve Thompson. "For Adam and Jared to earn All-America honors in their first event is a great achievement. Adam has been building a lot of momentum during the past couple of weeks, and I anticipate that he will only get stronger throughout the meet.

"Jared has some work to do after an exciting conference meet, but he cannot be disappointed after becoming only the fourth Lewis male swimmer in history to score at nationals. I am confident he will be ready for his strongest event, the 1650, by Saturday.

"Of course, Michael offers a lot of experience for our younger swimmers. He is participating in his fourth NCAA Championships, and I expected him to score in the IM. Michael is a very talented athlete, and he has been training exceptionally well this year. I am looking forward to seeing him race in the backstroke events later this week.

"Overall, having two swimmers represent Lewis in one event, and watching all three of our swims earn All-America status, is a great way to begin our championships. We are within one point of the score Michael contributed for a 22nd place team finish last year, and we still have seven individual events to compete.

"Add Stephanie (White-Olson) as the first female to represent Lewis at the NCAA Championships since 2004, and I am excited about the potential for our team to continue to gain national recognition."

Live results for the championships can be found by logging on to http://www.starswimming.org/results/2007.htm.