Queens (NC) Men, Tennessee Women Win 2023 CSCAA National Invitational Champs Team Titles

2023 CSCAA NATIONAL INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

• Thursday-Saturday, March 9-11, 2023
• Beacon Health Aquatic Center, Elkhart, IN
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Live Results can be found on MeetMobile
  • “2023 CSCAA National Invitational Championship”
• Psych Sheet
• Day One Recap
• Day Two Recap

FULL MEET RESULTS

The 2023 CSCAA National Invitational Championship has now concluded in Elkhart, IN. In their first season as an NCAA Division I program, Queens (NC) won the men’s team title convincingly, beating out runner-up Tennessee by 112 points. Queens’ women’s team also had a strong showing, finishing tenth in the women’s standings. Of note, Queens (NC) was not allowed to participate in the NCAA Championships this year since they just made the move to Division I, so they were at this meet with their full roster. Similarly, Lindenwood is competing as a Division I program for the first year, and they also had a great outing, coming in sixth in the men’s standings.

Meanwhile, Tennessee won the women’s meet by a wide margin, finishing 110.5 points ahead of runner-up Akron.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (TOP TEN)

WOMEN

1. Tennessee – 566
2. Akron – 455.5
3. Ohio State – 450
4. Indiana – 425.5
5. TCU – 395
6. UCSD – 390.5
7. FIU – 340
8. Grand Canyon – 325
9. Illinois – 322
10. Queens (NC) – 321

MEN

1. Queens (NC) – 674
2. Tennessee – 562
3. Ohio State – 474.5
4. TCU – 458
5. Oakland – 450
6. Lindenwood – 380.5
7. Grand Canyon – 374.5
8. Indiana – 347.5
9. BYU – 301.5
10. Denver – 293

The final day of the meet featured an event we don’t see at the NCAA Championships or conference championships: the 100 IM. In the men’s 100 IM, Lindenwood’s Patryk Winiatowski touched first in 48.23. He was just ahead of CSU Bakersfield’s Antonio Milin (48.55). Milin was the top swimmer in prelims, where he clocked a 48.45.

The women’s 100 IM saw Akron’s Rebecca Reid clock a 55.33 en route to winning the event. She was a touch faster in prelims this morning, where she swam a 55.28.

Tennessee’s Jake Narvid won the men’s 1650 free by well over five seconds, speeding to a 15:03.43. The swim was just off his season best of 14:58.21 from SECs but was still good to win the race convincingly. Coming in second was Indiana’s Tristan DeWitt in 15;08.00, taking nearly 12 seconds off his season best with the performance. Also of note, Narvid’s swim marked a new NIC meet record in the event.

UCSD’s Juli Arzave blew away her season best en route to winning the women’s 1650. Arzave clocked a 16:14.97, taking nearly 20 seconds off her season best of 16:34.67. On top of that, the swim marks a huge new lifetime best for Arzave as well, coming in well under her previous mark of 16:27.17, which had stood since 2019. She also decimated the meet record in the event, which stood at 16:25.39 from last year.

Queens (NC)’s Sophie Lange came in a close second with a 16:15.40, also setting a new season best with the swim.

Delaware’s Gavin Currie took the men’s 200 back in 1:42.33, cracking the meet record of 1:42.80 by about half a second. His swim was also just under his previous best of 1:42.35, which he swam a few weeks ago. Tonight, Currie swam a well-paced race, splitting 24.41 on the first 50, then going 26.26, 26.31, and 25.35 respectively on the remaining 50s.

Indiana’s Mya DeWitt won the women’s 200 back in a very tight race, touching first in 1:56.77. Towson’s Ally Frame and UConn’s Robyn Edwards were both right there, finishing in 1:56.79 and 1:56.87 respectively for second and third. DeWitt and Frame were essentially tied the whole way through the race, with DeWitt flipping in 56.73 and Frame 56.80 at the 100-yard turn. Edwards was just behind, turning in 57.10 at the 100. The trio was all together at the 150-yard turn, seeing Frame flip first in 1:27.03, 0.02 seconds ahead of DeWitt (1:27.05), who was 0.02 seconds ahead of Edwards (1:27.07). DeWitt was notably a touch faster in prelims this morning, where she swam a 1:56.43.

In the men’s 100 free, Queens (NC) won their first title of the night, seeing Matej Dusa clock a 42.56. It was actually a 1-2 punch for Queens, as Daniel Meszaros was close behind with a 42.97 for second. Dusa also broke the NIC meet record of 42.88 with his swim.

The women’s 100 free was another very tight finish. Tennessee’s Abby Samansky won the race in 49.37, leading Rice’s Imogen Meers (49.43) and Grand Canyon’s Emily Muteti (49.46) by very narrow margins. Muteti was out first, splitting 23.45 on the first 50, compared to 23.71 for Samansky and 23.73 for Meers. Samansky then came home the fastest, splitting 25.66 on the second 50, ahead of Meers’ 25.70 and Muteti’s 26.01.

Tennessee’s Brett Champlin won the men’s 200 breast comfortably, swimming a 1:54.80. He was out fast, splitting 53.90 on the first 100, then came home in 1:00.90. Champlin was just off his season best of 1:54.47, and was less than a second off his lifetime best of 1:53.95, which he swam last February.

After leading prelims with a 2:11.89, West Virginia’s Mia Cheatwood won the women’s 200 breast in 2:12.27. She beat out Southern Illinois’ Olivia Herron, who came in second with a 2:12.68. Notably, both Cheatwood and Herron are freshmen.

Queens (NC) then won the men’s 200 fly, where Alex Kunert clocked a 1:43.31 to win the race by 1.54 seconds. It was yet another meet record, as Kunnert cleared the previous mark of 1:43.49 by 0.18 seconds.

In the women’s 200 fly, Grand Canyon’s Paula Martinez Moreno beat Ohio State’s Lucy Malys in another extremely close finish. Malys was out well ahead of Martinez Moreno, splitting 57.73 on the first 100 to Martinez Moreno’s 58.61. Malys was still leading by 0.88 seconds at the 150-yard turn, but Martinez Moreno came roaring home in 29.75 on the final 50, much faster than Malys’ 30.74. At the finish, Martinez Moreno touched in 1:58.76, 0.11 seconds ahead of Malys’ 1:58.87.

Queens won the men’s 400 free relay by a solid margin, setting a new meet record of 2:52.84. Matej Dusa (43.63), Daniel Meszaros (42.41), Alex Kunert (43.02), and Conner Wang (43.78) teamed up to get the job done.

Washington State earned their first win of the meet in the final event of the meet: the women’s 400 free relay. The Cougars combined to post a 3:17.39, touching as the only team under 3:19. Noelle Harvey (49.95), Kristen de Goede (49.52), Angela di Palo (48.91), and Selana Duran (49.01) teamed up for Washington State, earning the win. On top of the victory, the Cougars also shattered the NIC meet record of 3:18.56, which had stood since 2018. The time also set a new Washington State program record in the event.