The final day of the 2013 NJCAA Junior College National Championship Meet in Buffalo, New York saw another near sweep by Indian River – though that’s not much of a surprise anymore.
With all of the great swimming, what is really disappointing is the way the Daytona State women ended this meet. That is, they ended the meet really well, which makes it disappointing because barring some intervention, this will be their last ever swim meet.
Daytona State nabbed their 3rd-and-4th event victories of the meet, starting with a big one from distance swimmer Ginny Grams in the 1650 freestyle. She won the race in 16:45.43 for her third win, and in the process took 10 seconds off of a 27-year old record in the race.
Her teammate Sophie Drake continued the momentum in the very next race, putting down a 2:04.26 to win the women’s 200 backstroke. She knocked-off Shelby Leonard from Indian River, who was two seconds better in prelims, as both swimmers dropped ten seconds from their previous season bests.
Indian River got back on track thanks to Yurie Nakano, who has been their star in this meet, posting a 50.02 to win the 100 free; Indian River took five of the top six spots in that race with the exception being Drake, again, in 4th in 52.25 on a back-to-back swim.
Patricia Casellas swept the breaststrokes for Indian River with a 2:17.58, with Darton College’s Anna Macht giving her a solid run in 2:18.45.
On the men’s side, it was another clean sweep for IRSC. The top swims among those were a 1:48.20 from Josh Oathout to win the men’s 200 backstroke, and a 43.46 from Brad Tandy to win the men’s 100 free. Tandy was pretty far off of his winning time from last year’s meet, but it’s predictable that his 100 would be slower coming back after shoulder surgery in the off-season.
He was then a 43.78 leading off the Indian River 400 free relay in 2:56.08.
Full, live meet results available here.
Women’s top 5 standings
1. Indian River State College 1648
2. Daytona State College 951
3. Darton College 862
4. Monroe Community College 675
5. Lincoln College 555
Men’s top 5 standings
1. Indian River State College 1832
2. Daytona State College 1319
3. Darton College 831
4. Monroe Community College 592.5
5. Iowa Central Community College 576
This was also the end of the Iowa Central program. Men finished 5th and Women 7th