The Miami women lead following day 2 of the Miami Invitational. Dennison holds a dominating lead on the men’s side.
Miami (OH):
Women-
OXFORD, Ohio – Miami University’s women’s swim & dive team started off the second day of the Miami Invitational with success, winning the 200-yard medley relay. Sophomore Maureen Sullivan, junior Stephanie LeMire, senior Gabby Veri and senior Sara Krueger kicked it off for the RedHawks, clocking in at 1:42.15, just 0.55 seconds in front of second-place Denison.
The 400-yard IM was swept by the RedHawks, with sophomore Holly Schuster placing first (4:21.76), sophomore Ana Maria Castellanos in second (4:23.63) and senior Shannon Ahearn in third (4:24.71). Sophomore Shay Spelman finished fourth in the event (4:27.48) and freshman Kelsey Hightouched the wall eighth (4:28.94).
Junior Brittany Dudzinski won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.32. Senior Michele Rielly placed third (56.17), senior Emma Szczupakiewiczfinished fourth (56.18), sophomore Katie Kuhl finished sixth (56.34) and Sullivan finished in ninth (57.44).
Freshman Peyton Mosbaugh tied for second in the 100-yard butterfly with Emory’s Fiona Muir. She earned a time of 55.30 and 29.50 points for the RedHawks.
LeMire placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:02.74. Schuster finished in sixth place (1:03.91) while sophomore Lainey Massaro finished ninth (1:04.64).
Miami had three girls place in the top nine in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Logan Klinsky took fifth, with a time of 1:51.13. Krueger placed seventh, clocking in at 1:52.92. Junior Julia Campbell finished in eighth, finishing in 1:53.03.
To end the night, the team of Klinsky, Campbell, senior Natalie Rohr and Krueger placed fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay (7:29.85).
The Miami Invitational continues Saturday morning, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries. The finals will then occur Saturday night starting at 6 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Heat sheets will be sold for $1.
Standings
1. Miami- 1635.5
2. Emory- 1083
3. Toledo- 1068
4. Denison- 998.5
5. Ball State- 674.5
6. Urbana- 110.5
Men-
OXFORD, Ohio – Miami University’s men’s swimming and diving is in third place with a total of 1198 points going into day two of the 22nd Miami Invitational.
Miami had an impressive showing in the 100-yard breaststroke with senior Evan Bader finishing second (56.20), followed by sophomore Hutch Blackstone in third (56.44). Junior Steven Russo was also a top finisher in that event with his ninth-place finish (57.75).
Freshman Jake Precious stepped up to the plate and led the RedHawks in the 100-yard backstroke with a fourth-place finish, clocking a time of 50.83, with sophomore Pete Simcox following in seventh.
Simcox was also the top finishing RedHawk in the 100-yard butterfly in sixth place, touching the wall at 50.44. The next closest RedHawk was freshmanChase Bettner in tenth place.
Miami claimed fifth in the 200-yard medley led senior Davis Staley, Bader, Simcox and junior Jack Strauss earning a combined team time of 1:32.38.
Sophomore Ross Rybakowicz was the top finishing RedHawk in the 400-yard IM finishing seventh with his time of 4:06.36. Freshman Nick Potter followed in 12th place, touching the wall at 4:08.92.
In the final event of the evening, the 800-yard freestyle relay, Strauss, sophomore Ross Westrick, Precious and senior Christopher Dieter collected fourth with their combined team time of 6:53.86.
The third and final day of the Invitational begins tomorrow, Dec. 5 with preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m., and continuing with finals at 6 p.m. in the Nixon Aquatic Center. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Heat sheets will be available for sale at the door for $1.
Day Two Standings
1. Denison – 2084.5
2. Emory – 1200
3. Miami – 1198
4. Urbana – 184.5
Denison:
Women-
With two-thirds of the Miami Invitational in the books, Denison sits in fourth place in the team standings with 998.5 points. The host Redhawks lead with 1,635.5 points while Emory sits in second with 1,083 points. Third place belongs to Toledo with 1,068 points while Ball State trails Denison in fifth place with 674.5.
Denison continued to post season-best teams on Friday night. In the 100 breaststroke, Marissa Bednarek logged the best individual finish of the night, placing third in 1:03.28. Ellen Higdon followed in 13th with a time of 1:05.69.
In the 400 IM, the Big Red would rack up three NCAA provisional qualifying times, led by Halli Garza‘s 4:28.36 which landed her in sixth place. Taylor Johns followed in seventh place in 4:28.50 while Leigh Hartog checked in 14th after a time of 4:31.82.
In morning preliminaries, Campbell Costley posted a time of 1:50.88 in the 200 freestyle. She would return with a time of 1:51.53 in the finals to finish sixth. Alex Elizeus turned in a 12th place finish after her time of 1:53.22.
In the 100 butterfly, Carolyn Kane finished with a fourth place time of 55.58. Another ‘B’ cut would come from Ashley Yearwood in the 100 backstroke where she touched in eighth place in 57.19 seconds.
Denison’s 200 medley relay team comprised of Kane, Bednarek, Yearwood and Mary Van Leuven were the runner-up after hitting the wall in 1:42.69.
Denison also swam the 800 free relay for the first time this year. Kane, Elizeus, Kate Wright and Costley would post a ‘B’ cut time of 7:29.41 led by Costley’s 200 anchor split of 1:51.00.
Diving results were not made available.
Denison will return to the Corwin M. Nixon Natatorium on Saturday for preliminaries that are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Men-
Denison won four of seven events on Friday night, pushing its lead to nearly 900 points entering the final day of competition at the 2015 Miami Invitational. The Big Red sits in first place with 2,084.5 points while Emory is second at 1,200 points. The Redhawks trail Emory by only two points in third place while Urbana is fourth with 184.5 points.
Senior Andrew Rich led a stable of seven Denison swimmers who all finished in the top-9 in the 100 butterfly. Rich’s winning time of 48.89 was a ‘B’ cut time. Liam Marsden-Readford logged a ‘B’ cut time in preliminaries at 49.64. He returned with a time of 50.04 in the finals to finish second. Third place went to Kenny Fox in 50.35, while Jason Wesseling took fourth in 50.38. Like Marsden-Readford, Wesseling notched a cut time in prelims at 49.46. Fifth, seventh and ninth place, respectively, went toConrad Wuorinen (50.42), Kevin Brinegar (50.74) and Brett Weicht (51.28).
The leaderboard was stacked with Big Red swimmers in 400 IM as well. After breaking the Denison varsity record in the 200 IM on Thursday,Jack Lindell returned with a victory in the 400 IM on Friday. Lindell’s time of 3:50.28 was just .26 seconds shy of breaking his own Denison record. Positions 4-6 in the standings would go to Blake Kent (4:00.00), Nathan Thorne (4:01.62) and Tim Smith (4:01.62), respectively. Matt Hedman finished ninth in 4:08.03 while PJ Fallon and Ryan Anderson went 1-2 in the consolation final with ‘B’ cut times of 4:04.61 and 4:06.25.
Sophomore Brendan Howley more than likely punched his ticket to Greensboro with his first place time of 55.45 in the 100 breaststroke. Jake Ball also notched a provisional qualifying time after placing seventh in 57.51.
Four ‘B’ cut times would be recorded by Ryan Fleming, Joe Brunk, Stuart Hohm and Aaron Saccurato in the 200 free. Fleming’s best time came in prelims at 1:39.09. He took second with a time of 1:39.44. Brunk also had his best showing in the morning in 1:39.30. He returned in the finals at 1:39.54 to finish third. Fourth went to Hohm in 1:39.68 while Saccurato finished fifth in 1:40.17.
In the 100 backstroke, Wesseling would finish second in 49.59 after a 49.33 in prelims. Lindell took third in 50.73 after his season-best time of 50.23 earlier in the day.
The Big Red would win one of the two relays on the night as Lindell, Brunk, Hohm and Fleming combined for the victory in the 800 freestyle relay in 6:39.01. Hohm’s 200 split time of 1:39.19 was the fastest split in the race.
DU would open the night’s finals with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay as Wesseling, Howley, Rich and Fleming touched in 1:30.17. Rich posted a 21.27 fly split while Fleming followed with a 20.05 split in his 50 free. Emory held off DU with a winning time of 1:29.58.
Diving results were not made available.
The Big Red will return on Saturday to the Corwin M. Nixon Natatorium for preliminaries at 10 a.m.
Emory:
The Emory University swimming & diving teams continued where they left off on Thursday as the Eagles racked up another 25 NCAA “B” Cut times on Friday, the second day of the Miami Invitational. After two days of competition, the Eagle women sit in second with 1,083 points and the men are also in second with 1,200 points.
15 of those 25 NCAA “B” Cut times came from the women. Emory was led by sophomore Cindy Cheng who took second in the 100 Back (55.92) and freshman Fiona Muirwho tied for second in the 100 Butterfly (55.30). Muir’s 100 Fly time was the fifth fastest in school history. The 800 Freestyle Relay team of Cheng, sophomore Julia Wawer, freshman Meg Taylor and junior Marissa Bergh took home the lone first place finish on the women’s side with a time of 7:25.34.
Other top performers for women who also notched NCAA qualifying times were Wawer in the 200 Free (4th, 1:50.51), junior Annelise Kowalsky in the 100 Breast (4th, 1:03.37), senior Elizabeth Aronoff in the 100 Breast (5th, 1:03.85), senior Ellie Thompson in the 100 Back (5th, 56.11 in prelims), junior Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbe in the 100 Fly (7th, 56.32 in prelims), junior Claire Liu in the 100 Back (7th, 56.50), freshman Ashley Daniels in the 100 Breast (8th, 1:04.31), sophomore Rebecca Upton in the 400 IM (10th, 4:26.85) and sophomore Phoebe Edwards in the 400 IM (11th, 4:27.96).
Recording NCAA “B” Cut times as well for the women were three other relay teams. The 200 Medley Relay “B” team of Liu, Kowalsky, senior Megan Campbell and Taylor who came in third at 1:43.24. The 400 Medley Relay “A” quartet of Thompson, Aronoff, Muir and Bergh who touched at 1:43.54 for a fifth place showing. And finally, the 800 Freestyle Relay “B” team of Upton, Muir, Daniels and senior Carolyn Bonfield which placed fifth with a time of 7:30.87.
For the men, two individuals took home first place finishes as did the 200 Medley relay team. Juniors Christian Baker and Mitchell Cooper came in first in their respective events while also posting NCAA qualifying times. Baker in the 200 Free with a time of 1:37.99, a mark that was the fourth fastest in the event in school history and Cooper in the 100 Back, touching at 49.01. The Medley Relay squad comprised of Cooper, sophomore Cooper Tollen, Baker and Oliver Smith registered a 1:29.58 to win the event.
Cooper added a second place finish in the 400 IM and posted a NCAA “B” Cut time of 3:57.41 in prelims. Right behind him, placing third, was sophomore Chandler Lichtefeld who swam a time of 3:59.77. Emory saw four swimmers notch NCAA qualifying times in the 100 Breast event led by Tollen who placed fourth and swam a 56.59 time during prelims. Following Tollen was sophomore Aaron Schwartz in fifth (56.88 in prelims), sophomore John Copses in sixth (57.38 in prelims) and sophomoreMichael Grenon who tied for seventh with a time of 57.51. Rounding out the men’s qualifying times was the 200 Medley Relay team comprised of freshman Matt Rogers, Schwartz, freshman Thomas Gordon and sophomore Alexander Hardwick who came in third with a time of 1:31.79.
Emory will conclude the three-day Miami Invitational on Saturday as preliminaries start at 10:00 Am with finals to follow in the evening at 6:00 PM.
Toledo:
OXFORD, OH – Seniors Sammy Richart and Brooke Edwardsand freshman Katrin Streicher led the way for the Toledo women’s swimming and diving team at day two of the Miami Invitational on Friday, as each recorded individual wins on the day.
The Rockets jumped into third-place with 1068 points, behind Miami (1635.5) and Emory (1083).
Streicher tallied a first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, posting a time of 55.33, and Richart placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.61.
The Rockets dominated the 200-yard freestyle, taking the top three spots. Edwards placed first with a 1:49.49, followed by senior Lauren Comer with a 1:50.47 and sophomore Maggie Hack with a 1:51.27.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Hack, Edwards, Comer and junior Bailey Marshal had a second-place finish with a combined time of 7:30.00.
The Rockets conclude the Miami Invitational on Saturday, with the final session scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.
Miami Invite Team Standings
1. Miami – 1635.5 points
2. Emory – 1083 points
3. Toledo – 1068 points
4. Denison – 998.5 points
5. Ball State – 674.5 points
6. Urbana – 110.5 points
7. Kentucky – 95 points
8. Cincinnati – 81 points
Swimming news courtesy of Miami, Dennison, Toledo, and Emory Swimming & Diving.