Denver’s Cameron Auchinachie Ties School Record with 19.13 in 50 Free

2019 Princeton ‘Big Al’ Invitational

• December 6th-8th, 2019
• Denunzio Pool, Princeton, New Jersey
• SCY (25y) Course
• Live Stream
• Live Results
• Friday Results (PDF)

A new season, a new head coach, but more success for the Denver University swimming & diving programs.

On Friday, racing in the first finals session of the 2019 Princeton ‘Big Al’ Invitational, junior Cameron Auchinachie tied his own school record in the 50 yard freestyle, winning the race in 19.13. That’s the same time that he swam at last year’s NCAA Championship meet in prelims to qualify 13th through to the final. In that final, he swam 19.37 and finished 16th. That made him the 10th swimmer in Denver history to earn Division I All-America honors.

He wasn’t alone in his efforts, either. His teammate Sid Farber swam a lifetime best of 19.26 for 2nd place. That, along with a 19.18 in prelims, were both lifetime bests, which improve his standing as the 2nd-fastest swimmer in school history.

Preceding that 1-2 finish in the individual event, Denver won the 200 free relay running-away in 1:17.40. That relay included Auchinachie (19.17), Faber (18.73), Jackson Gainer (20.07), and Adriel Sanes (19.43). That time was an NCAA provisional qualifying time, but just-missed the automatic invite time of 1:17.17.

Denver won again in the session-ending 400 medley relay, with a team of Neil Wachtler (48.27), Cy Jager (53.20), Sanes (47.35), and Auchinachie (42.16) combining for a 3:10.98 – more than a 2-second margin over the field.

In spite of only 1 win on the day, the Princeton men used depth to take the overall team lead after the first day, 32.5 points ahead of Denver. That win for Princeton came from sophomore Raunak Khosla, who swam a 1:45.05. He ran down Brown’s Coley Sullivan over the final 50 yards to take a come-from-behind victory.

The Princeton women opened up a bigger lead on day 1, led by their talented young distance group. Freshman Ellie Marquardt (4:40.56), freshman Addison Smith (4:48.49), junior Courtney Tseng (4:49.44), and freshman Elizabeth Boeckman (4:50.48) went 1-2-3-4 in the race. Marquardt’s time is faster than the invite line for last year’s NCAA Championship meet. It’s also the fastest time in the Ivy League this season by almost 4 seconds.

Other Day 1 Men’s Winners:

• Penn State sophomore Michael Daly won by 2 seconds in the men’s 500 free, touching in 4:20.10. Dartmouth’s Connor LaMastra took 2nd in 4:22.40. That sneaks under his own school record from last year’s Ivy League championships that was 4:22.88.

Men’s Scores After Day 1:

1. Princeton – 256.5
2. Denver – 224
3. Brown – 223
4. Penn State – 193
5. Columbia – 156.5
6. Dartmouth – 92
7. Johns Hopkins – 68
8. Princeton Tiger Aquatic Club (Princeton post-grads) – 13

Other Day 1 Women’s Winners:

• The Princeton women opened the session with a win, touching in a time of 1:31.64 in the 200 yard free relay. That included a 22.70 leadoff leg from freshman Nikki Venema.
• Penn State’s Maddie Cooke had the fastest split of the 200 free relay, leading off Penn State’s runner-up quartet with a 22.65. She later improved that time with a 22.52 in the 50 free (ahead of a 2-3 finish from two more Princeton freshmen).
• Penn State’s Margaret Markvardt won the 200 IM in 2:01.18, holding off her teammate Heather Macdougall (2:01.33) to lead a 1-2 finish for the Nittany Lions.
• Penn State won the session-ending 400 medley relay, their 3rd event win of the day on the women’s side, with a team of Marie Schobel (53.65), Carly Hart (1:00.63), Maddie Hart (52.15), and Abigail Amdor (49.94) combining for a dominant 3:36.37. En route to a 3-second margin of victory, Penn State had the fastest split on each of the first 3 legs of the relay.

Women’s Scores After Day 1:

1. Princeton – 373
2. Penn State – 308
3. Brown – 171
4. Denver – 167
5. Johns Hopkins – 87
6. Dartmouth – 83