Queens Men Break Duke Pool Record, Duke Tops Queens and William & Mary

DUKE V. QUEENS (NC) V. WILLIAM & MARY

• January 12th, 2019
• Hosts: Duke
• Results
• Scores
  • Women: Duke 178, W&M 78 | Duke 163, Queens 93 | Queens 151, W&M 110
  • Men: Duke 147.5, W&M 113.5 | Duke 142.5, Queens 118.5 | Queens 148, W&M 113

WOMEN’S MEET

Duke freshmen Easop Lee and Melissa Pish excelled in today’s tri meet, as did Blue Devil juniors Kylie Jordan and Alyssa Marsh as Duke powered past DII Queens (NC) and William & Mary at home.

Lee and Pish were locked in battle in the 200 free, with Lee getting the best of Pish, 1:47.72 to 1:47.86. Nobody else was under 1:50. Pish went on to win the 500 free, the only finisher under 5:00 in 4:52.29. Lee, meanwhile, showed sparks of versatility with a 1:59.95 win in the 200 back and a 2:01.99 victory in the 200 IM.

Marsh, Duke’s top sprinter, was the 100 back winner at 54.32 over another Blue Devil freshman, Shayna Hollander (55.17). While Jordan would end up besting Marsh in the 100 fly, 53.53 to 53.59, Marsh’s blistering 22.92 fly split on Duke’s medley relay was a statement swim. That isn’t very far off of her 22.52 season-best split, which was a suited swim from the 2018 Tennessee Invitational.

Queens, a D2 powerhouse, collected two wins today. In the 100 breast, Shelly Prayson won by over a second in 1:03.86, while Polina Lapshina was 50.00 to clock the win in the 100 free.

MEN’S MEET

The most impressive swim on the men’s side came from a Queens swimmer, Marius Kusch. The 25-year-old German national erupted for a 46.69 in the 100 fly, which won him the race today by over a second and a half. That would also be the fastest time in Division II this year, if he hadn’t already gone 46.32 earlier in the season. Kusch was just racing at the Pro Swim Series – Knoxville earlier in the week before this meet.

Alex Kunert had a very winning day, too. The Queens swimmer won all three of his individual events, going 9:13.48 in the 1000, 1:46.52 in the 200 fly, and finally 1:51.28 in the 200 IM. He also had the quickest split in the 400 free relay, which Queens won in 2:57.51 by over five seconds over William & Mary (3:03.28), at 43.40. In fact, Queens’ B relay placed 3rd, with Duke’s A at 4th in 3:05.99.

Queens broke the Duke pool record with their 2:57.51 in the 400 free relay.

Queens also had sprinter Brody Heck upset Duke’s Yusuke Legard in the 50 free, 20.17 to 20.37. Legard came back after the diving break, though, and topped Heck, 44.55 to 44.64. W&M’s Colin Wright was 44.98 for third.

Max St. George was big for Duke, winning both backstrokes. He was 48.39 to defeat Kusch (48.89) in the 100 and then he was 1:50.14 to earn the win in the 200 back.

Both Duke and Queens won seven events each (six individuals and one relay, each, to be exact), and Queens won the last four events, straight, including that relay 1-2. Duke had done enough, though, to defeat Queens, and a big part of that was their 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breast and 1-2 in the 200 breast. Sean Tate (56.12), Judd Howard (56.34), and Cole Resnick (57.06) were part of that 100 breast sweep, while Howard (2:03.89) and Resnick (2:04.49) got the job done in the 200.