• About UANews
• Sign up for News
• Resources for Media
• Calendar
• Contact Us

Roland Schoeman, Albert Subirats and Lyndon Ferns are among those who will compete on Friday.

By University Communications
August 14, 2008

Several University of Arizona athletes in Beijing for the Olympics will compete in heats on Friday.

Roland Schoeman, a UA alumnus who is swimming for South Africa, on Thursday made a run in the 50-meter freestyle, a one-lap sprint of the pool. Schoeman won heat 13 with a time of 21.76, earning him a spot in Friday’s semifinals.

Schoeman is arguably the most accomplished male swimmer in UA history with three Olympic medals along with seven world and two U.S. Open records since 1999.

He also won one NCAA title, the 50-yard freestyle in 2002, and finished second four times. He finished his career with school records in the 50- and 100-meter freestyles and collected 25 All-America honors. All three of his medals came at the 2004 Athens Games, including the gold-medal-winning 400-meter freestyle relay.

Thursday also brought good news for UA student Albert Subirats and UA alumnus Lyndon Ferns, who both competed well in the preliminaries for the 100-meter butterfly. Ferns heat five of the the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 52.04 seconds.

And Subirats, who is swimming for Venezuela, won heat eight with a time of 51.71 seconds. He and Ferns will compete again on Friday.

Ferns, who is competing for South Africa, qualified for the 100-meter freestyle. He placed sixth with a time of 48.04 seconds.  

 

UA alumnus Juan Veloz also competed, placing fifth in heat four with his time clocked at 53.58 seconds.

UA athletes who are playing on the U.S. softball team didn’t see any play on Thursday. Their match against Canada was delayed because of rain. The team is scheduled to play Canada and Japan on Friday.

In baseball, UA alumnus Jason Donald – in his first Olympic appearance – helped the U.S. baseball team rebound from a one-run loss on Wednesday. The U.S. team broke the game open with a four-run fourth inning and two U.S. pitchers allowed just one hit. The U.S. downed the Netherlands with a final score of 7-0.

UA alumnus Robertas Javtokas, who is playing for the Lithuania men’s basketball team, posted a solid all-around effort with seven points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists in the contest.

The team moved to 3-0 in group A with an 86-79 win over the Russian Federation. Also, Lacey Nymeyer finished in sixth place in the women’s 100-meter freestyle semifinals with a time of 54.74 seconds. Nymeyer did not advance to the finals, but is the only UA athlete to claim an Olympic medal in 2008.

Darian Townsend, also competing for South Africa, finished sixth in the semifinals of the men’s 200-meter individual medley with a time of 1:59.65, which did not qualify him for the finals.

Among the sessions scheduled for Friday are freestyle and medley relay preliminaries, the softball competition and U.S. women’s volleyball against China.