2018 OHIO STATE INVITATIONAL
- November 15-17, 2018
- Columbus, Ohio
- McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets (Updated)
- Live Streamed on BTN2GO
- Session Timelines (Tentative)
- Live Results
- Saturday Prelim Results (PDF)
- Saturday Finals Heat Sheet – Provisional
Ella Eastin and Ali Galyer both swam the fastest times in the country in their respective events at day 3 prelims of the Ohio State Invitational in Columbus, with Eastin doing so in the women’s 200 fly and Galyer in the women’s 200 back. Check out a full recap of the session below.
Women’s Events
200 Back
Galyer and her fellow Wildcat junior Asia Seidt put up the top-2 times in the women’s 200 back, with Galyer’s 1:51.29 topping Beata Nelson‘s 1:51.85 from last weekend for top spot in the country. That swim is much faster than she was at last year’s invite (1:53.08), and puts her just over a second off her lifetime best of 1:50.16.
Seidt, who was the runner-up at the NCAA Championships last season, was also under Nelson’s time in 1:51.50, and will shoot to get under the 1:50.67 she went at this meet last year in the final. Her best from those NCAAs is 1:49.24.
Taylor Ruck of Stanford registered a lifetime best to qualify 3rd, lowering her 1:53.13 from 2014 in 1:52.91, and her junior teammate Erin Voss swam her fastest ever at a mid-season invite for 4th in 1:53.13. Also of note was Notre Dame freshman Bayley Stewart going a personal best 1:54.12 for 5th.
100 Free
Fighting Irish junior Abbie Dolan (48.81) and Yale senior Bella Hindley (48.94) were the only two women to go sub-49 in the 100 free prelims, with Dolan’s swim being her best ever outside of an NCAAs or ACCs and Hindley’s her 2nd-fastest all-time (trailing her 48.64 from the 2017 Ivys).
Stanford freshman Amalie Fackenthal was 3rd in 49.10 in what was her first 100 free of the season, and her sophomore teammate Ashley Volpenhein had her fastest swim since February of 2016 to qualify 5th in 49.42. Their teammates Ruck, Nordmann and Morgan Tankersley were all no shows in this event.
200 Breast
Kentucky sophomore Bailey Bonnett took the top seed in the women’s 200 breast in 2:09.83, with Stanford swimmers taking the next six spots. Bonnett owns a best of 2:07.17 from the 2018 SECs and was 2:07.83 at this meet last season.
Freshman Zoe Bartel took 2nd in 2:10.02 for a season-best by three seconds, and junior Allie Szekely (2:10.25) finished just .03 off her lifetime best from 2012 for 3rd. Joining them in the final will be Cardinal teammates Grace Zhao (2:10.77), Brooke Forde (2:11.24), Kim Williams (2:11.94) and Allie Raab (2:13.23).
200 Fly
Reigning NCAA champ Ella Eastin then posted the top time in the country in the women’s 200 fly, going 1:53.65 to equal what Grace Oglesby went this morning at the IU Invite. Prior to these swims, Oglesby’s 1:53.79 from the SMU Classic led the NCAA.
Eastin’s Cardinal teammate Katie Drabot, the runner-up at last season’s NCAAs, qualified 2nd in 1:55.16, while Kentucky freshman Izzy Gati swam a lifetime best for 3rd. Gati’s 1:56.12 lowered her old best of 1:56.87 from the 2018 Spring NCSAs in March.
Men’s Events
200 Back
Sadler McKeen of Notre Dame took more than three seconds off his best time to qualify 1st in the men’s 200 back, clocking a time of 1:45.04.
Kentucky senior Josh Swart had his fastest swim outside of an SEC Championship meet in 1:45.61 to qualify 2nd, and Yale freshman Christian Bell took 3rd in a new best of 1:45.92. Jack Montesi, who owns a best of 1:41.95, sits 4th heading into the final after going 1:46.17 this morning.
100 Free
Pittsburgh’s Blaise Vera was one of four men to go sub-44 in the 100 free prelims, taking the top spot in a lifetime best of 43.18. This was his first time getting under the 44-second barrier as his previous best was a 44.05 from February of 2017.
Andrew Loy (43.39) and Ruslan Gaziev (43.48) of OSU, along with Henry Gaissert (43.52) of Yale, were all fairly close to their lifetime bests for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Gaziev was closest, just .08 off what he did in the Buckeye’s early season dual against Alabama (43.40).
200 Breast
Three freshman took the top-3 seeds in the men’s 200 breast, all swimming lifetime bests. Josh Bottelberghe of Notre Dame dropped a tenth for 1st in 1:57.17, Ohio State’s Jason Mathews took off over a second and a half for 2nd in 1:57.29, and Andrew Winton of Notre Dame broke 2:00 for the first time for 3rd in 1:58.79.
200 Fly
West Virginia sophomore David Dixon nailed down the top seed in the men’s 200 fly in 1:44.55, just off his 1:43.81 from last month which had led the nation until last weekend. Luke Smutny of Pittsburgh was just two-tenths off his best time for 2nd in 1:45.02, and Notre Dame’s Aaron Schultz (1:45.43) went better than he did at this meet last year (1:45.71) for 3rd.