March 24, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Boilermaker senior Louis Paul has finally shed the "honorable mention" lable from his name, and is now just an All-American.
Paul, a native of Sydney, Australia, earned this prestigious status Thursday night at the NCAA Championships, after placing fifth in the 200 individual medley at 1:45.50. Olympic silver medalist and Florida junior Ryan Lochte won the title with a NCAA/US Open and American record time of 1:41.71.
"Once I get over the initial disappointment with my time, I'll be overjoyed by the end result," said Paul, who now owns the Big Ten Conference's three fastest times in the 200 IM. "I'm happy with finishing fifth at this meet, which is extremely tough, but I felt rushed early on and did not feel entirely comfortable."
The fastest 200 IM time in conference history is the 1:44.65 Paul clocked at this year's championships, which also were held at Minnesota. His prelim time of today of 1:44.89 is listed as the second fastest, and his 200 IM championship time of 1:45.00 at this year's Big Ten's is ranked third.
Paul's splits Thursday were listed as 22.99 (fly), 25.92 (back), 31.98 (breast) and 25.31 (free). Paul was in third place through the first two strokes, but began to lose ground during the breaststroke leg.
Placing behind Lochte for the silver and bronze medals were Auburn junior Eric Shanteau (1:44.15) and Arizona junior Dave Rollins (1:44.42).
For head coach Dan Ross and the Purude swimming program, Paul's top-16 finish marks the 10th straight year in which a Boilermaker has either received All-America or Honorable Mention All-America status. Paul was an honorable mention All-American in the 200 IM the past two seasons.
"He's the fifth best swimmer in this event, which means he's an All-American and no one will ever be able to take that away from him," said Ross. "This meet has been a real pain for him the last two years, not reaching the top eight. But he accomplished his goal tonight and has us on the scoreboard."
Thanks to Paul's 14 points, the Boilermakers are in 20th place after one full day of competition. Auburn leads the field with 172 points and Arizona is second with 130 points. Cal, Stanford and Florida round out the top five.
During Friday's second day of action at the NCAA's, all four Boilermakers are slated to be in action, including Giordan Pogioli (100 breast) and Romain Maire (100 back). Diver Steven LoBue will compete off the 3-meter springboard.