The final morning of the H2okie Fall Invitational was again highlighted by the Alabama Crimson Tide and host Virginia Tech Hokies jockeying for first place position across the session. There weren’t any particularly eye-popping swims, but the Hokies got a pair of good performances from Colin Higgins in the men’s 200 back and Weronika Paluszek in the women’s 200 breast. Higgins clocked in at 1:43.00, which isn’t a particularly great swim given his best time of 1:40.10, but it sets him up for a good one tonight. Teammate Greg Owen crushed his previous season best for second in 1:44.80. Paluszek, one of the more underrated breaststrokers in the NCAA, nearly met the 2014 NCAA invited time in the women’s 200 breast with her 2:11.60 this morning.
Emma Saunders posted an impressive double to open the morning session with a 1:56.96 in the women’s 200 back, showing some great closing speed in the process, followed by a 50.13 in the 100 free. A pair of Hokies were runner-ups in the two events, with Holly Harper finishing second in the 200 back (1:58.00) and Jessica Hespeler finishing second in the 100 free (50.26).
The Tide men didn’t have any swims worth writing home about, but we should see a pair of very quick 100 freestyles tonight from Kristian Gkolomeev and Brett Walsh, who cruised through their respective swims, finishing 1-2 in 44.36 and 44.75.
Niles Wich-Glasen from South Carolina (1:57.59, men’s 200 breaststroke), Klaudia Nazieblo from Virginia Tech (1:58.59, women’s 200 butterfly), and Taylor Charles from Alabama (1:48.09, men’s 200 butterfly) are the other top seeds heading into tonight.
Action resumes at 6 p.m. ET. Live results are available here.