The Hawkeye men and Denver women are in the lead through the first finals session. The finals sessions opened with some fast times, highlighted by Hawkeye backstroker Grant Betulius’ impressive lead off leg on the men’s 400 medley relay.
Betulius took the Hawkeyes to the lead with a 45.56 100 back. His time was good for an NCAA A cut, a school record, and pool record. It would be the top time in the nation through Friday. He broke his own school record of 46.33. However, his relay, which also set a school record, was disqualified because of a false start that registered with the timing system as a negative difference of .01 seconds.
Officials and meet management were unsure whether Betulius backstroke split would count as an official time, although head coach Marc Long said he thought it would. The relay, made up of Betulius, Roman Trussov, Jerzy Twaroski, and Jackson Halsmer, will swim a time trial tomorrow in another attempt at an NCAA cut and the school record.
After the disqualification, Notre Dame’s A relay took the title, with Bogac Ayhan, Zach Stephens, John Williamson, and Justin Plaschka combining for a 3:13.25. Denver’s A relay finished second behind the team of Ray Bornman, Tim Cottam, Andrew Torres, and Willy Van Dehy were second in 3:15.44. Iowa’s B relay was third with Andrew Parker, Mike Nelson, RJ Hemmingsen, and David Ernstsson touching at 3:18.15.
The women’s medley relay was much less dramatic. Denver’s Johanna Roas, Amanda Sanders, Sam Corea, and Drew Matthews finished first with a 3:37.16. Corea split a blistering 51.88 in the fly leg.
Iowa’s A relay of Rowan Hauber, Emma Sougstad, Summer Campbell, and Olivia Kabacinski were second with a 3:41.66. Kabacinski had the fastest freestyle split of the field with a 49.63.
Washing State gave the Hawkeyes a run for second, and were leading through the third leg, Alison Mand, Frederikke Hall, Anna Brolin, and Hannah Bruggman finished in 3;41.76. Bruggman was unable to fend off Kabacinski. Bruggman anchored with a 50.67.
Denver leads women’s meet through day one. Iowa leads on the men’s side. Neither side has a big lead, however.
Team scores:
Women:
- Denver: 238
- Iowa: 220
- Washington State: 163
- Milwaukee: 92
Men:
- Iowa: 249
- Denver: 218.5
- Notre Dame: 188.5
- Milwaukee: 70
Full results from day one are available here.
The Hawkeye women also set a school record. The 200 free relay team of Kabacinski, Sougstad, Meghan Lavelle, and and Mekenna Scheitlin set a record by winning the 200 free relay.
They beat the Denver A relay thanks to a 22.92 anchor leg from Scheitlin. The Hawkeye A relay was tied at 1:08.38 with the Denver relay of Sam Corea, Zoe Huddleston, Drew Matthews, and Johanna Ross, heading in the last leg. Roas was just short of beating Scheitlin, splitting a 23.04.
Denver touched in 1:31.42. Washington State’s A relay of Alison Mand, Bruggman, and Nicole Proulx, and Haley Love finished third in 1:31.46.
The men’s relay was also won by Iowa. Iowa scored the victory in 1:19.45, over a second ahead of Notre Dame’s A relay. Jackson Halsmer led off for the Hawkeyes with a 20.22; Jackson Allen followed with a 20.09. Chuck Holliday split a 19.94, and Betulius anchored with a 19.20, the fastest split of the event by far.
Notre Dame’s A relay finished second with a 1:20.63 from Stephens, Plaschka, Pat Olson and Kevin Bradley.
Iowa’s B relay of Ernstsson, Brandon Farnum, Trussov, and RJ Hemmingsen were third in 1:21.10. Denver finished fourth in 1:21.15 with Ray Bornman, Willy Van Dehy, Patrick Guillory, and Cottam.
Women’s 500 freestyle
Like she did in prelims, Becky Stoughton ran away from the field in the women’s 500. Stoughton swam a 4:47.40, good for a B cut and three second margin of victory. Maddie Myers of Denver was second with a 4:50.42.
Clara Jenck and Tyra rooney, both of Denver, finished third and fourth in 4:52.75 and 4:52.84, respectively.
Natalie Johnson of Milwaukee was fifth in 4:56.45.
Men’s 500 freestyle
Dylan Bunch and Luke Williams had NCAA B cuts in the men’s half of the 500. Bunch finished in 4:19.10, and Williams in 4:23.93.
The third and fourth place finishers were Scott Bergstrom and Jared Smith, both of Denver, in 4:26.73 and 4:26.94. Williams, Bergstrom, and Smith were all seeded within .20 seconds of each other after prelims, but Williams was the only one to drop time from prelims.
Notre Dame’s John Williamson was fifth in 4:27.38.
Women’s 200 IM
Sougstad did not have enough in the tank to take down the school record for Iowa, but she did have enough to win the IM in 2:01.13, only adding .19 from her 2:00.94 this morning.
She was still the fastest women in the event by over a second. Her teammate, Colleen Champa, was second in 2:02.19. Denver had Amanda Sanders in third in 2:02.19, but Iowa’s Allie Orvis was fourth in 2:04.31 to give the Hawkeyes a points boost.
Men’s 200 IM
Zach Stephens of Notre Dame was 1:44.26 in prelims, by far the fastest swim of the day, but scratched the final.
Chris Freeman of Iowa won the men’s event in 1:49.03, good for the only B cut of the finals session. Lane Bretschneider of Denver kept the pace for Pioneers with his second place finish in 1:49.15.
Freeman swam a 50.59 in the first 100, compared to Bretschneider’s 51.33, and was able to hold on for what proved to be one of the most exciting events of the evening. Bretschneider out split Freeman in both the breaststroke and freestyles, but was just short of running Freeman down.
Olson was third for Notre Dame in 1:49.56.
Women’s 50 freestyle
Corea took the victory for the Pioneers in 22.47, .31 seconds ahead of the next closest finisher, Iowa’s Kabacinski.
Kabacinski touched in 22.88. She and Corea were the only two women under 22. Drew Matthews finished third in 23.03. Hudleston was fourth in 23.11 for the Pioneers.
Men’s 50 freestyle
Notre Dame’s Plaschka finished second from all the way in lane eight, but was not fast enough for to take down Iowa’s Halsmer, who was 19.91. The only swimmer under 20. Plaschka touched in 20.22.
Iowa swimmers took the remaining six spots in the A final, and the top spot in the B final. Betulius, Farnum, Holliday, Trussov, and Ernstsson were third through eighth with times ranging from 20.36 to 20.76.
Competition resumes Saturday morning at 10 a.m. central time.