The Lindsey Wilson men and women kicked off their season with the LWC Fall Frenzy. The men’s team saw 3 national “A” standard swims, including the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay. The women saw strong performances from their freshman class. Newcomers Vanessa Durocher and Hailee Scheffer were a part of the 400 medley relay that achieved a national “A” standard with their 4:39.85.
Men’s meet:
The Lindsey Wilson men’s swimming team opened the 2015-16 season with a strong showing on the first day of the LWC Fall Frenzy Invitational held at the Holloway Health and Wellness Center.
A total of three national “A” standards and one “B” standard were achieved across the five events of the opening session on Friday evening.
The Blue Raiders opened with their first national “A” cut right out of the gate as the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Iker Larzabal, Taylor Thompson, Jose Prado de Lima and Zachary Patzer swam a 1:31.42 to finish second out of eight teams.
Just over a second behind them finished the quartet of Travis Durocher, Mark Richard,Clemens Patzold and Jonas Muller at 1:32.47 in third place, also achieving an “A” standard.
Another national standard came in the second and final relay of the evening, as Patzold, Muller, Prado de Lima and Patzer teamed up to win the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:41.35, capturing the “A” standard by over 16 seconds.
The final national mark on the day came from Patzold in the 200-yard individual medley as he finished first in the field of 16 with a time of 2:00.56, just over a second behind an “A” cut but still qualifying for a “B” standard.
In the 50-yard freestyle, the Blue Raiders added a two-three-four finish by Patzer, Muller and Thompson with times of 23.13, 23.69 and 23.88, respectively.
Lindsey Wilson is back in the pool on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. CT for session two, followed by the third and final session at 4:30 p.m. CT.
Women’s Meet:
The Lindsey Wilson women’s swim team opened the 2015-16 season on Friday evening with the opening session of the LWC Fall Frenzy Invitational held at the Holloway Health and Wellness Center.
The Blue Raiders got a strong showing from multiple freshmen making their collegiate debut in the pool. Dana Kaftan, Emily Wood and Bailey Seitz, along with sophomore Courtney Fleeger, opened the competition by winning the 200-yard freestyle relay event with a time of 1:46.90 to beat out the other eight teams.
Later, in the final event of the evening, Seitz, Kaftan, Wood, along with fellow freshman Caitlin Freeny, captured first place in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:25.10. Both times in the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay were good enough for national “A” standards.
Another “A” standard was achieved in the 400 medley relay by Fleeger, Susan Herrington, and freshmen Vanessa Durocher and Hailee Scheffer, as they finished with a time of 4:39.85 to qualify for a national mark.
In the individual events, Wood and Freeny finished second and third in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 5:28.35 and 5:50.57, respectively. Wood’s time was good enough for a “B” standard.
Fleeger took second place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:27.71, while both Seitz and Kaftan accomplished national “B” cuts in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 26.32 and 26.42, respectively, finishing third and fourth out of 25 competitors.
The Fall Frenzy comes to a close on Saturday with the second session beginning at 9 a.m. CT, followed by the third and final session at 4:30 p.m. CT at the Holloway Health and Wellness Center.
Swimming news courtesy of Lindsey Wilson Swimming.