TicketsMarch 28, 2008
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- University of Cincinnati sophomore swimmer Josh Schneider (Cincinnati, OH/Taylor) earned all-America honors with a 14th-place finish in the 50 yard freestyle on Thursday (March 27) evening at the 2008 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center.
After finishing in a 16th-place tie in the preliminaries with Kaan Tayla from Virginia Tech, the two were required to compete in a swim-off for the 16th spot in the finals. Schneider and Tayla incredibly swam the exact same time in the swim-off to force a second tiebreaker. Schneider beat Tayla by a hair to move into the finals.
Swimming his fourth sprint of the day, Schneider improved his position from prelims and finished 14th in 19.70 to become UC's first male all-American since Ryan McNally in 2002.
Schneider broke his own school record in the event by over a tenth of a second with a 19.61 in the prelims. His 19.70 in the finals stand as the second-fastest mark in school history.
Cesar Cielo of Auburn won the 50 free in an NCAA record time of 18.52.
Schneider will compete in the 100 butterfly on Friday (March 28) and the 100 freestyle on Saturday (March 29). Follow the action live at http://www.ncaaswim.com/men08/ or on http://www.ncaasports.com.