Friday and Saturday West Virginia University hosted University of Cincinnati, James Madison University and Villanova University for a full NCAA line-up, plus the 100 freestyle, of events. After two days of competition, James Madison women and West Virginia men won the invitational.
Women’s Results: 1) James Madison – 1,077.5; 2) Cincinnati – 882.5; 3) West Virginia – 747; 4) Villanova – 724
Men’s Results: 1) West Virginia – 1,373; 2) Cincinnati – 1,121; 3) Villanova – 553
Women’s Meet
University of Cincinnati had wins from Jackie Keire in the 1000 freestyle. She finished in 10:09.22. Also Jessica Piper tallied a win for the Bearcats of 2:04:01 in the 200 backstroke.
Keira returned to the pool in the 100 freestyle for another victory, in a time of 50.81.
James Madison saw their first win with Sin Hye Won in the 200 breaststroke at 2:21.86.
West Virginia women got in the action with the 200 butterfly. Julie Odgen had the event in 2:04.90.
In the first event of the invitational, James Madison finished first in the 200 freestyle relay. UC had the early lead, but with Susanne Gingher’s anchor split of 23.32, JMU touched out UC, 1:36.10 to 1:36.16. Villanova Unviersity was third, 1:38.10.
In the medley relay, JMU once again had a strong anchor from Gingher to come from behind. West Virginia this time was ahead, until Gingher split 23.51 to Courtney Parenti’s 24.06. James Madison finished in 1:47.42 to WV’s 1:47.46.
Cincinnati got into the mix, just behind the two at 1:47.97. They needed a much better breaststroke split to keep up with the other two; their swimmer split 31.17.
Kelsey Holmgard won the 400 IM for JMU in 4:33.94. Villanova’s Jessie Randolph was second in 4:34.59 – over a twenty second drop from her seed time. Cincinnati’s Andrea Bartel was third in 3:34.95.
Odgen completed a butterfly sweep winning the 100 in 57.45. Melissa Criscuolo for James Madison was second, 57.67, and Fiona Gardie for Villanova was third, 58.35.
In the third freestyle event of the meet, Keira finished first again, this time in the 200 freestyle. She dipped under 1:50 to finish at 1:49.05, easily ahead of Villanova’s Katrin Heider at 1:53.78.
Completing a breaststroke sweep was Won, JMU, in a time of 1:05.06. Piper made a sweep of her own for the Bearcats with a 57.53 win in the 100 backstroke.
Villanova University had their first win of the meet in the women’s 800 freestyle relay. Heider, Randolph, Kaisla Jollanus and Sara Jurek finished in 7:35.60. The women averaged 1:53-highs, and overcame Cincinnati in the second half of the race for the win.
Villanova settled for second in the 400 freestyle relay, with JMU finishing first in 3:29.83. Gingher once again used her anchor leg to overcome the field; she split 50.72.
Keira finished under the 5:00 mark in the 500 freestyle at 4:58.65. Villanova’s Emily Mayo was second in 5:00.92.
Holmgaard had a race in the 400, but won the 200 IM comfortably. She finished in 2:06.83 for James Madison.
In the final individual race of the weekend, Gingher, who had very strong anchor 50’s for James Madison in the relays, claimed an individual event for herself in the 50 freestyle. She finished at 23.91, over WV’s Gillmore and Parenti.
James Madison University won the final relay, the 400 medley, comfortably 3:52.63 over Cincinnati’s 3:54.89. Noteably, Kerie split 50.3 for the anchor leg of UC’s relay.
Men’s Meet
Daeton Davenport, from West Virginia, won the first event for the men. His time of 4:38.64 in the 500 freestyle, bested UC’s Joey Ferreri’s time of 4:42.97.
Bryce Bohamn for WV finished the 200 backstroke in 1:48.79 for first as well.
The Mountaineers went 1-2-3-4 in the men’s 100 freestyle with Tim Squires, Ross Glegg, Julien Vialette and Andrew March. Squires winning time was 45.14.
West Virginia was back at it, for another sweep, finishing 1-2-3 in the men’s 200 breaststroke. Nate Carr finished first in 2:06.82, with his teammate Christopher Brill right behind him in 2:06.96.
Ferreri finished second again to Chase Williams of WV in the men’s 200 butterfly. Williams winning time was 1:55.73, with Ferreri at 1:56.41, very close to his seed time of 1:56.17.
Continuing their dominance, West Virginia went 1-2 on the field. The A team of Squires, Vialette, Bohman and Glegg was way ahead of the field, finishing five seconds ahead at 1:21.66. Glegg anchor in a 20.03.
UC’s A & B teams went 3-4, while Villanova’s A & B teams went 5-6.
Again West Virginia went 1-2 in the relay, with their 200 medley finishing in 1:31.58. Bohman lead off the relay in a 22.51 backstroke 50, faster than their Vialette’s fly split of 22.76.
Cincinnati was third, while Villanova was fourth.
Nate Carr of WV won the 400 IM in 4:05.58.
Bohman continued to show his versatility, with a win in the 100 butterfly at 49.80. His teammate Andrew Marsh and Williams went 2-3.
Again in a sweep, West Virginia had the 200 freestyle. Glegg finished ahead at 1:41.51, with Davenport and Nathan Cobbe at 1:44.44 and 1:44.48 respectively.
Brill had the shorter breaststroke event in 58.58. UC’s Dan Gilbertson and Nik Balmer finished 3rd and 4th, 1:00.69 and 1:00.76.
Bohman tallied a third win individually with the 100 backstroke, after already nabbing the 200, with a time of 48.44 – very close to his 47.93 seed time.
The men of West Virginia made it 4 for 4 in the relays. They dipped under 7 minutes in the 800 freestyle relay. And their 400 freestyle relay had the rest of the field by almost eight seconds, 3:02.61.
The Mountaineers nearly saw their first loss in the 1000 freestyle. The Bearcat’s Ferreri had the lead most of the race, up until the 950 mark. Davenport laid a bomb of a last 50, splitting 25.6 to make up the deficit and some. He finished first at 9:42.92, and Ferreri was second at 9:43.43.
In another big bang for WV this weekend, they went first through fifth in the 200 IM. Carr was first in 1:52.74, followed by Jake Querciagrossa, Brill, Williams and Jay Hickey.
Squires ended the individual events with a fast 50 freestyle. His final time was 20.39. Bohman, who was second, dropped time off his seed to finish at 21.06.
Making it a complete sweep in the swim events, West Virginia 400 medley relay won in a time of 3:23.85.