CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Case Western Reserve University men's swimming & diving team placed third at the 2012 University Athletic Association Championship meet that wrapped up on Saturday evening, matching the best finish in school history and garnering Head Coach Doug Milliken and assistant Emily Wylam Men's Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the second-straight season.
The Spartans only other time in third at the UAA Championship came during the 2002 campaign. Last season, Milliken and Wylam led the men to a fourth-place finish, earning Coaching Staff of the Year in their first season with the program.
Emory University (Ga.) won its 14th-consecutive team title with 1,897 points. The University of Chicago (Ill.) edged the Spartans out for the runner-up spot, totaling 1,197. Case recorded 1,153.5 points over the four-day meet, while Washington University-St. Louis and Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) rounded out the top-five with respective counts of 1,122 and 1,065.
Leading the way on the fourth and final day of competition was sophomore Gus Bailey (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City) with a school-record performance in the 100-yard freestyle and an NCAA B-Cut in the 200 breaststroke by classmate Nick Clyde (Ann Arbor, Mich./Ann Arbor).
Bailey placed third in the 100 freestyle finals with a time of 46.35 seconds, breaking the old mark of 46.51 set by Alex Hostoffer in 2009. On day two of the meet, Bailey was runner-up in the 50 free (20.97).
Following Bailey's lead, Clyde turned in a third-place finish of his own, touching the wall in an NCAA B-Cut time of 2:05.31 in the 200 breaststroke.
Senior Sam Geiger (Westlake, Ohio/St. Edward) also turned in a key finish, capturing seventh place in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:32.03.
In the final event of the championship, the Spartans captured fourth in the 400 free relay as the team of freshman Eric Haufler (Westminster, Md./Francis Scott Key), sophomore Heath Hudgins (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill), freshman Caleb Allen (Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) and Bailey finished in a time of 3:06.41.
