December 5, 2014, Oxford, OH – The Miami University Invitational continued in Oxford, OH today, as competitors offered their best in the 200y medley relay, 400y IM, 100y butterfly, 200y freestyle, 100y breaststroke, 100y backstroke, and 800y freestyle relay events.
The women’s first event started out in a unique way with a tie in the 200y medley relay. The Emory “A” women of senior Ellie Thompson, sophomore Annelise Kowalsky, sophomore Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbe, and senior Nancy Larson combined for a time of 1:42.78, as did the foursome of sophomore Brittany Didzinski, sophomore Stephanie Lemire, junior Gabby Veri and senior Annie Marquiss from Miami. The University of Cincinnati women finished in third place with a time of 1:43.04.
For the men’s part, Wright State University got it done with a winning time of 1:29.73. The squad of freshman Mitchell Stover, senior Kile Aukerman, junior Merritt Sparks, and junior Lucas Osgood teamed up to come close to the 200y medley relay pool record of 1:29.16 set by Kenyon back in 2008. Emory’s “A” team finished tonight in second place in a time of 1:30.39, followed by Denison’s “B: in 1:31.41.
Aubrey Kluth from Miami ran away with the women’s 400y IM tonight, winning in a time of 4:21.21. This betters her prelim swim by over 4 seconds, as well as surpasses the 4:33.36 mark she swam against Xavier back in mid-October. Tonight’s second place finisher, Miami teammate Holly Schuster, finished just half a second under her prelim time, finishing tonight in 4:22.23. Senior Michelle Howell out of Denison closed out the top three in a 4:24.30.
The men’s 400y IM winner tonight was Jack Lindell, a sophomore from Denison who finished third in last night’s 200y IM. Tonight in the longer distance, he clocked a time of 3:52.81 to beat the field by almost two seconds. Runner-up was Cincinnati freshman Ryan DePietro in 3:54.46, followed by his sophomore teammate Cody Green, who finished in 3:57.94.
Next up was the women’s 100y butterfly, where Toledo Rocket women got on the board in the form of Katrin Streicher’s 54.73 winning time. Her time tonight blows away the 57.79 she clocked against Eastern Michigan on October 24th this year. In tonight’s contest, Streicher was followed by Denison’s Carolyn Kane (55.29) and Wright State’s Emily Hayhow (55.38).
The men’s 100y butterfly was won by Cincinnati’s Eitan Holder in a time of 48.78; Holder was the second place finisher in last night’s 500y freestyle final. Wright State’s Mitchell Stover earned second in the 100y butterfly race with is time of 49.51, while Urbana senior Kim Helander claimed third in 49.13.
In the 200y freestyle race, Cincinnati sophomore, Jackie Keire, came within .01 of breaking the pool record set in 1996 by Shannon Shakespeare from the University of Michigan. Keire’s time of 1:46.67 was over three seconds better than her prelim swim and just pummeled the field by four seconds. Keire was also the winner of last night’s 50y and 500y freestyle events. The next fastest 200y swimmer clocked a 1:50.92 (Julia Wawer from Emory), followed by a 1:50.07 put on the board by Toledo junior Brooke Edwards.
The men’s side saw a much closer 200y freestyle race, with the top two finishers coming to within .02 of each other. Last night’s third-place finisher in the 500y freestyle, freshman Stuart Hohm from Denison, earned the top spot tonight with a time of 1:38.40, but Eitan Holder from Cincinnati was right behind him and closed in 1:38.42. The third place finisher was Wiehan Boshoff from Wright STate in a time of 1:39.50.
The women’s 100y breaststroke race saw another athlete come dangerously close to breaking another pool record tonight. Sammy Richart from Toledo clocked a winning time of 1:01.63, just .10 off of the 1:01.53 pool record set in 2013 by Birdgette N. Ruehl from Ball State. Close behind Richart was Pikhartova, a senior from Cincinnati, who earned second place in a time of 1:01.97. Stephanie Lemire from MIami rounded out the top three with her time of 1:03.10.
Finally a close pool record call fell in favor of a swimmer, as Emory’s Andrew Wilson touched the wall in 53.41 to take down the old 100y breaststroke record from 2013, set by Damon C. Rosenburg of Denison. Wilson ran away with the race tonight, as Kile Aukerman (Wright State) was the next closest competitor, finishing behind in 54.93. Third placed was scooped up by Cincinnati sophomore Dan Gilbertson in 55.82. Wilson also won the 200y IM at last night’s finals.
Emory took another victory tonight with Claire Liu’s win in the 100y backstroke in a time of 55.28. Toledo senior Maria Bargardi finished in second place with a time of 55.53, while Emory’s Ellie Thompson finished in third in 55.69.
Tonight’s A final of the men’s 100y backstroke saw a 1-2 finish by Wright State, by two freshman to boot. Mitchell Stover and Jack Fergus finished in 49.13 and 50.17, respectively, while Emory’s Mitchell Cooper wrapped up third place in 50.49.
The session concluded with the 800y freestyle relay, where Cincinnati women sealed the deal with their 7:23.53. Jackie Keire swam the fastest split by far, leading off with an impressive 1:48.34; the next closest split was her teammate Sara Wanasek who anchored in 1:50.36. Emory women finished in second place with a time of 7:23.71, while Toledo earned third place with their time of 7:29.39
The Cincinnati men also ended on a high note with their win in the 800y freestyle relay. The combination of Michael Kaplan, Eitan Holder, Connor Davis, and D.J. Waite was swift enough to earn first place in a time of 6:37.32. Second-fastest tonight was the Denison “A” team, followed by the Emory “A” relay.
Within the women’s competition, Miami University leads with 1682 points, followed by Emory University at 1011, and University of Cincinnati with 1004. Denison University is in the lead on the men’s side with 1478.5 points, followed by the University of Cincinnati with 1358.5 points, and Wright State who has 1078 points after today’s events. Competition resumes Saturday at 10:00am Eastern.
Full meet results available here.
Wilson’s 53.41 is a new NCAA Division 3 record.