Courtesy: Akron Athletics
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips women’s swimming and diving team earned their seventh consecutive Zippy Invitational Championship, defeating Buffalo 1,953-1,570 on Sunday as junior Sarah Watson (Winnipeg, Manitoba) reset another school standard and four swimmers achieved NCAA B-Cut Times.
Watson flew to a b-cut time in the 100 freestyle prelims (49.40), and went even faster in the finals to rewrite the Akron record book. She won the event with a 48.84 time which replaced her the previous school record of 48.91 set last season.
Watson earned a second win as a member of the 400 freestyle relay team. The squad of sophomore Rachel Schiffli (Indianapolis, Ind.), sophomore Victoria Kaufman (Westminster, Md.), junior Lauren Cooper (Dublin, Ohio) and Watson secured the final 52 points of the three-day event with a 3:19.30 time.
Overall, the Zips won 5-of-7 events on the last day of the Zippy Invitational as freshman Astrid Halvorsen (Stroemmen, Norway), sophomore Weronika Gorecka (Wroclaw, Poland) and junior Andrea Fischer (Oak Grove, Minn.) collected wins. Halvorsen opened the finals segment with a win in the 1650 freestyle, stopping the timer at 16:32.07, while Gorecka claimed the second event of the evening section.
Gorecka won the 200 backstroke with a NCAA B-Cut time of 1:56.79. Rounding out the event winners was Fischer with an impressive 2:11.78 b-cut time in the 200 breaststroke – she also hi the NCAA mark in the prelims with a 2:13.43 time. Senior Paula Garcia (Madrid, Spain) reached the NCAA standard in the 200 Breast prelims, clocking in at 2:13.77.
In addition, the Zips swept the top three positions in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke. Touching second and third in the 200 Back were freshmen Madelyn Gatrall (Windsor, Canada) and Margaret Clough (Lebanon, Ohio) with 1:58.90 and 2:01.25 times, respectively. Freshman Madeline Dyer (Akron, Ohio) and sophomore Sara Bozso (Budapest, Hungary) finished second and third in the 200 Breast with 2:15.95 and 2:16.52 times. Freshman Rachel Sabotin (Columbus, Ind.) also posted a runner-up finish as she was the first Zip to touch in the 200 butterfly (2:00.22).
The Zips will be back in action on Friday, Dec. 18 against the Ohio Bobcats in Athens, Ohio at the Ohio University Aquatic Center.