The IUPUI Natatorium was the scene of a tri-meet hosted by the Jaguars on Friday night that featured some good racing and close dual-meet scores. In the end, Ball State defeated both IUPUI (167-133) and Xavier (178-116) and IUPUI edged Xavier (153-141).
The Jaguars were dominant in the relays, winning the 200 medley behind Lexi Laird (27.25), Jenny Oleksiak (30.01), Maranda Buha (25.88), and Madison Taylor (24.56) for a combined 1:47.70. In the 400 free relay, IUPUI’s Laird (53.39), Alexis Bullard (52.94), Buha (54.20), and Brittani Grove (54.03) just eked it out over Ball State (Jessica Extine, Audrey Rodawig, Jordan VanWinkle, and Carlena Magley) and Xavier (Madison Day, Carolyn Stewart, Molly Kroeger, Paxtyn Drew), winning in 3:34.56.
IUPUI notched individual victories in the 100 back, 100 fly, and 200 IM. The 100 back was a close contest, with senior Laird getting the win in 58.39. Just behind her was Xavier freshman Drew (58.57). Musketeer Stewart and Ball State’s Courtney Mudd were locked in a stroke-for-stroke battle from start to finish. At the wall, it was Stewart for third by .01, going 59.75 to Mudd’s 59.76.
In the 100 fly, Bullard logged a victory for the home team when she touched in 56.48 ahead of Xavier’s Ashley Whiteley (57.86) and Ball State’s Katie Horn (58.50). Senior Oleksiak won the final event for the Jaguars, posting a 2:12.02 in the 200 IM to just out-touch Ball State’s Kimmie Scott (2:12.24) and Mudd (2:12.50). Oleksiak also earned two second-place finishes in the 100 breast and 200 breast.
The Ball State Cardinals earned seven firsts, including doubles from seniors VanWinkle and Magley and freshman Amanda Kedzierski. VanWinkle was first to the wall in the 200 free (1:55.44) and 500 free (5:10.04), thanks to strong back halves in both races. VanWinkle touched out Xavier’s Kroeger (1:56.49) and IUPUI’s Grove (1:58.04) in the 200, and Xavier’s Emily Wagner (5:12.96) and Mackenna Rife (5:14.52) in the 500.
Magley took the top spot in both sprint free races, going 24.22 in the 50 and 52.85 in the 100. Teammate Rodawig was runner-up in the 100 (53.19) and placed third in the 50 (24.66). Kedzierski won both breaststrokes ahead of Xavier’s Oleksiak. Kedzierski was 1:05.50 in the 100 and 2:25.56 in the 200, winning by about a second in each race. Xavier senior Madison Day was third in the 100, while her teammate Hannah Martin grabbed bronze in the 200.
Cardinal sophomore Horn also scored a win for Ball State with a 2:09.81 in the 200 butterfly, just in front of teammate, freshman Traci Muszalski (2:10.19.
The Musketeer women had a more solid meet than the scores would indicate, showing particular strength in the distance free and backstroke events. Sophomore Emily Wagner put Xavier on the board with a win in the 1000 free in a career-best 10:33.00. Teammate Rife, a junior, touched in 10:41.00 for second.
Freshman Drew followed up her second-place finish in the 100 back with a victory in the 200. She finished 2 seconds ahead of IUPUI’s Laird with her 2:06.94. Third place went to Xavier senior Jacquelyn Misanik in 2:09.76.
Final Scores:
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 153 – 141 Xavier University
Ball State University 178 – 116 Xavier University
Ball State University 167 – 133 Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis