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
The second day of the 2023 CSCAA National Invitational Championship is in the books. Day two of the meet featured the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and the 800 free relay.
Through the second day of the meet, Indiana is now leading the women’s standings, holding a narrow 2.5-point lead over Tennessee. It’s a Power Five trio at the top, seeing Ohio State sitting in third in the women’s standings. Meanwhile, Queens (NC) has opened up a huge lead in the men’s standings and looks all but certain to win the title tomorrow. Notably, Queens is competing in their first season as an NCAA Division I team. As such, they weren’t allowed to compete at the NCAA Championships this season, so Queens is out in full force at this meet.
Speaking of the Queens men’s team, they won the men’s 200 medley relay in 1:24.85 to open up tonight’s finals session, breaking the NIC meet record in the process. Alex Bauch (20.85), Balazs Berecz (24.25), Conner Wang (21.09), and Matej Dusa (18.66) teamed up to win the event by well over a second. Bauch’s lead-off split of 20.85 was particularly notable. They also shattered the previous meet record, which stood at 1:26.07
UCSD won the women’s 200 medley relay in 1:38.63, beating out Tennessee by 0.31 seconds. Jordan Phillips (25.05), Chloe Braun (27.78), Miranda Renner (23.63), and Tina Reuter (22.17) combined to win the race. Tennessee was out a bit faster thanks to a 24.85 on the lead-off from Olivia Harper, but UCSD then out-split them on the remaining three legs of the race.
Ohio State’s Patrik Metzler won the men’s 400 IM in 3:48.37, pulling into the lead thanks to a 1:05.48 on the breast leg.
Ohio State made it a sweep of the 400 IMs, seeing Lucy Malys win the women’s 400 IM in 4:16.19. Malys had built a lead, then Illinois’ Sara Jass closed fast on freestyle, splitting 57.13 to Malys’ 58.1o on the final 100. In the end, Jass ended up finishing second in 4:16.49, 0.30 seconds behind Malys.
Lindenwood’s Elliott Irwin then won the men’s 100 fly in 46.62. Lindenwood is notable another program which is competing for the first time as an NCAA Division I team this year.
Ohio State grabbed another win in the women’s 100 fly, where Aislinn Walsh cl0cked a 52.79 to finish first comfortably.
Queens was back on top in the men’s 200 free, where Alex Kunert posted a 1:34.59. He pulled away from 500 free champion Joaqiun Vargas (Tennessee) on the final 50, out-splitting him 23.64 to 24.37. Vargas touched second in 1:35.09. Additionally, Kunert’s performance marked a new NIC meet record, cracking the old mark of 1:34.91 by 0.32 seconds.
Rice picked up their first win of the meet in the women’s 200 free, where Lauren McDougall swam a 1:47.09. 500 free champion Elyse Heiser (Indiana) came in third with a 1:47.51 tonight, but notably broke the NIC meet record with a 1:46.20 in prelims.
IUPUI’s Logan Kelly won the men’s 100 breast in 52.61, pulling into the lead thanks to a 27.45 on the second 50. Kelly notably qualified for the Men’s NCAA Championships the week after next.
Illinois State earned a win in the women’s 100 breast, where Madyson Morse swam a 1:00.68.
After leading off the Queens 200 medley relay in 20.85 at the start of the session, Alex Bauch won the men’s 100 back by a huge margin tonight, speeding to a 45.67. He absolutely shattered the meet record of 47.08 in the process, lowering it by a stunning 1.41 seconds. Both Oakland’s Marko Khotynetskyi and West Virginia’s Justin Heimes were under the previous meet record as well, finishing second and third in 46.66 and 46.85 respectively.
Southern Illinois’ Celia Pulido won the women’s 100 back in 53.19, touching out Indiana’s Mya DeWitt by 0.01 seconds. DeWitt was out a touch faster, splitting 25.67 on the first 50 to Pulido’s 25.81. Pulido then came home slightly faster than DeWitt on the second 50, giving her just enough to get her hand on the wall first by a hair.
Queens then closed out the men’s session with a win and another NIC meet record in the men’s 800 free relay. Daniel Meszaros (1:36.24), Alex Kunert (1:34.93), Balazs Berecz (1:36.87), and Luke Erwee (1:37.00) combined to post a 6:25.04, winning by nearly two seconds.
Tennessee then won the women’s 800 free relay in 7:12.57, breaking yet another meet record. Julia Burroughs (1:49.32), Abby Samansky (1:46.17), Lauren Wetherell (1:47.51), and Berit Quass (1:49.57) team up to win the race by well over two seconds.
TEAM STANDINGS THROUGH FRIDAY
WOMEN
- Indiana – 351.5
- Tennessee – 349
- Ohio State – 292.5
- UCSD – 273.5
- Akron – 271.5
- TCU – 261
- FIU – 240
- Queens (NC) – 213
- Illinois – 206
- Denver – 205
MEN
- Queens (NC) – 473.5
- Ohio State – 366.5
- Tennessee – 323
- Oakland – 308
- Lindenwood – 270.5
- TCU – 259
- Indiana – 234
- Grand Canyon – 228
- UCSD – 202.5
- CSU Bakersfield – 170
Does anyone find it strange that Kelly is swimming at NICs? Got a spot for NCAAs, now taking final spots and wins from kids at NIC too. Are there any other qualifiers at this meet?
That’s a very good question from a coaching standpoint (not sure why you’d take your NCAA swimmer to another multi-day meet unless you don’t care about the NCAA performance), however I believe as long as he doesn’t swim the event that he was invited for (200 Breast) then everything else is fine.