Northwestern University Athletics
Grevers Earns Individual Bronze at World University Games
8/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Aug. 15, 2005
IZMIR, Turkey -- Junior Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) finished in a tie for third place in the 50-meter backstroke Sunday at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, picking up his second medal of the Games.
Grevers qualified fifth for the final heat of the event with a time of 25.99. He lowered that time to 25.61 in the finals, finishing in a dead heat with Japan's Masafumi Yamaguchi for third position, just .11 out of first.
Grevers also swam the 100 free Sunday, narrowly missing out on medalling again with a fourth-place finish. Grevers and U.S. teammate Terrence Silkaitis tied with a time of 50.00 flat in the finals.
The placing was very impressive, considering he had just 20 minutes to get from the 50 back podium the starting block for the 100 free.
"I thought the backstroke race would warm me up for the 100 (free), but I was a little tighter than I thought," Grevers told USAswimming.org when his day was complete. "I ran straight to the ready room from the awards stand, and I just was not ready.
"I liked being on the outside lane in the 100 free, because I could see everyone on the way back. Those short sprints end up being won or lost by a couple of tenths, which is a little heartbreaking, but it was fun. I liked all of the excitement tonight."
Junior Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) was in action for the Bulgarian delegation, finishing ninth in the 200 IM and 10th in the 100 breast. Alexandrov narrowly missed out on the finals in the 100 breast, qualifying ninth in the preliminary heats. He was tenth in the IM prelims.
In the first race of the Games Friday, sophomore Andrea Hupman (Lawrenceville, Ga./Brookwood) won gold with the U.S. women's 4x100 freestyle relay.
She earned her second gold of the Games Sunday night, swimming during the prelims with the U.S. 4x200 relay team. Hupman did not participate in the finals, but still receives a medal for her efforts in helping qualify for the championship heat.
Grevers also earned a relay medal during Saturday's competition, anchoring the third-place 4x100 freestyle squad. Northwestern swimmers have earned four medals so far at the WUG.
Grevers returns to action Monday in the 100 back, arguably his strongest event. He won the 2005 NCAA title in the 100-yard backstroke.
