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E-mail StoryWhittington helps 200 free relay team place third in NCAAs
| Friday, Mar 28 2008 10:47 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Mar 28 2008 10:49 PM
Staff, wire reports
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FEDERAL WAY, Wash. Garces High graduate Joe Whittington of Cal placed 12th in the 50-yard freestyle Thursday in 19.66 seconds, and helped the Golden Bears' 200 freestyle relay team place third in the 2008 NCAA Championships at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center.
Whittington will compete today in the 400 free relay and 100 free.
He teamed Thursday with William Copeland, Jernej Godec and Graeme Moore to record the third-best 200 free relay mark (1:16.94) in school history. Whittington's split was 18.96. Auburn won the race in 1:15.56
In the one-meter diving competition, junior Sam Helvie, also a Garces graduate, was 15th with a score of 322.65.
Albert Subirats helped Arizona move into position for its first NCAA men's swimming title, winning the 100-yard butterfly Friday night for his third career NCAA victory.
Subirats, a senior from Venezuela, pushed strong out of the final turn, and came from behind down the last 25 yards to capture his second consecutive title in the 100 fly. Subirats' final time of 45.07 was half-second off his winning mark of 44.57 a year ago, but was enough to edge top-seeded Alexei Puninski of Auburn. Puninski finished in 45.51.
The victory by Subirats, who also swam a leg on Arizona's runner-up 200 medley relay team earlier Friday night, helped the Wildcats extend their lead over nine-time NCAA titlist Texas.
Arizona came into the second night of finals with a 137-116 lead over the Longhorns. By the time Subarits was done with his butterfly swim, the Wildcats made it 285-204 with four events left Friday night and seven more on tap Saturday,