Miami, Emory, and Dennison have taken the top 3 positions on the women’s side after day 1 of the Miami Invitational. The men’s meet is led by Dennison, Emory, and Miami.
Miami (OH):
Women-
OXFORD, Ohio — Miami University women’s swim & dive team started off the 22nd annual Miami Invitation with a dominating first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior Gabby Veri, junior Stephanie LeMire, senior Natalie Rohr and senior Sara Krueger finished in 1:32.78, beating their preliminary time of 1:37.88 by 5.10 seconds.
The 200-yard IM had five Miami swimmers in the finals. LeMire emerged victorious, touching the wall in 2:02.14, four seconds faster than her previous best time on the season. Sophomore Ana Maria Castellanos placed fourth (2:04.75), senior Shannon Ahearn placed fifth (2:04.99), sophomore Holly Schuster placed seventh (2:05.24) and sophomore Lainey Massaro placed ninth (2:09.00). The RedHawks earned a total of 139 points with the event.
Krueger finished third in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in at 23.34 seconds. Veri also placed sixth, touching the wall in 23.59.
Sophomore Shay Spelman tied for fifth place with Julia Wawer from Emory in the 500-yard freestyle, clocking in at 4:55.31. She earned 26.50 points for the RedHawks.
The day ended in the same way it started, with a Miami victory. The 400-yard medley relay was won by junior Brittany Dudzinski, LeMire, freshman Peyton Mosbaugh and Krueger. The group swam a time of 3:42.46, nine seconds faster than their seed time.
The Miami Invitational resumes Friday morning, Dec. 4, at 11 a.m. with the 400-yard IM preliminaries. The evening session kicks off later that day at 7 p.m. at the Nixon Aquatic Center. The Invitational wraps up with two sessions on Saturday. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Heat sheets will be sold for $1.
Standings
1. Miami- 659
2. Emory- 479.5
3. Denison- 465.5
4. Toledo- 462
5. Ball State- 237.5
6. Urbana- 65.5
Men-
OXFORD, Ohio — Miami University’s men’s swimming and diving team opened up the 22nd Annual Miami Invitational ending day one in third place, tallying a total of 350.5 points.
Miami claimed fourth-place in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Jack Struass, junior Lucas Brock, senior Jacob Prodoehl and sophomore Ross Westrickled the RedHawks in the event, swimming to a combined team time of 1:23.63.
Strauss also competed in the 50-yard freestyle where he finished fifth with an impressive time of 20.95. Brock was the next nearest RedHawk coming in 11th place, touching the wall at 21.25.
Other top performers for the RedHawks included sophomore Ross Rybakowicz. He turned in a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard IM (1:53.58). SeniorChristopher Dieter swam to a tenth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, clocking a time of 4:37.29. Freshman Jacob Precious was right behind in 11th, clocking a time of 4:38.27.
In the final event of the evening, the 400-yard medley relay, Prodoehl, senior Evan Bader, sophomore Pete Simcox and Strauss finished fourth with a final team time of 3:21.64, a full ten seconds faster than their seed time.
Day two opens up tomorrow morning, Dec. 4, at 11 a.m. in the Nixon Aquatic Center. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Heat sheets will be sold for $1
Day One Standings
Denison — 778.5
Emory — 487
Miami — 350.5
Urbana – 55
Denison:
Women-
Denison kicked things off at its annual midseason Miami Invitational by competing in five of 20 events on Thursday. DU sits in third place with 465.5 points. Miami leads with 659 points while Emory sits in second with 479.5 points. Right behind Denison, in fourth place is Toledo at 462. Ball State (237.5) and Urbana (65.5) round out the standings.
In the 500 free, Denison’s Campbell Costley won the race with a season-best ‘B’ cut time of 4:50.51. Taylor Johns took fourth in 4:54.84 which was also an NCAA provisional qualifying time.
In the 200 individual medley, Marissa Bednarek took third (2:04.20) while Halli Garza touched eighth (2:05.43). In afternoon preliminaries, Bednarek logged a season-best time of 2:03.75.
DU would get another pair of ‘B’ cuts in the 50 freestyle asCarolyn Kane took second in 23.19 and Mary Van Leuven ended seventh in 23.75. Both swimmers logged better times in trials as Kane touched in 23.17 and Van Leuven posted a time of 23.64.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Kane, Ashley Yearwood, Kate Wright and Keely Lovern touched third in 1:32.93. The team of Yearwood, Kane, Bednarek and Van Leuven would also take third in the 400 medley relay to end the night. The foursome touched in 3:45.27. Both were season-best ‘B’ cut performances for the Big Red.
The three-day meet will continue on Friday, Dec. 4, with preliminaries that are set to begin at 11 a.m.
Men-
After the first night at the 2015 Miami Invitational, Denison sits in first place in the overall standings with 908.5 points. The Big Red leads second-place Emory (601) while Miami sits in third with 458.5 points and Urbana checks in fourth at 105.
Thursday night was highlighted by Jack Lindell‘s record-setting performance in the 200 individual medley. After a 1:49.05 in afternoon prelims, Lindell returned to break his own Denison record with a winning time of 1:47.93. Lindell’s previous school record time of 1:48.23 was set last March at the NCAA Division III Championship.
Aside from Lindell, Denison would occupy six of the top-10 spots in the 200 IM standings. Joe Brunk placed fourth with a ‘B’ cut time of 1:52.21. Ryan Stevenson was fifth in 1:52.88 whileAndrew Rich (sixth – 1:53.37), Alec Carlson (eighth – 1:54.09) and Blake Kent (10th – 1:53.29) rounded out the top DU finishers in the event.
The 500 freestyle was also stacked with Big Red swimmers as five landed in the top-eight. Stuart Hohm took second place in 4:30.09 whileAaron Saccurato was right behind in third at 4:31.39. Ben Burdick took sixth, touching in 4:34.98. All three were ‘B’ cut performances. Kevin Benson checked in seventh in 4:38.27 while Connor Downard took eighth with a time of 4:39.35.
In the 50 freestyle, Ryan Fleming and Conrad Wuorinen led Denison with a pair of season-best ‘B’ cut times. Fleming was the runner-up after a time of 20.64 in the final. In afternoon preliminaries, Fleming posted a time of 20.50. Wuorinen finished third in 20.69. Places 7-9 would go to Kenny Fox (21.06), Jason Wesseling (21.07) and Max Howes (21.09), respectively.
The night started with the 200 free relay that saw Fleming, Wuorinen, Howes and Wesseling place second in 1:22.11. Denison would close out the first day with a victory in the 400 medley relay thanks to Wesseling, Brendan Howely, Rich and Fleming’s time of 3:17.73. Both times were season-best ‘B’ cut swims.
The three-day meet will continue on Friday, Dec. 4, with preliminaries that are set to begin at 11 a.m.
Emory:
The Emory University swimming & diving teams got off to a great start on Thursday at both the Miami and SCAD Invitationals as the Eagles posted 29 NCAA “B” Cut and saw one school record fall.
After one day of competition, Emory sits in second place on both the men’s and women’s side at the Miami Invite. The men are second behind Denison University with 601 points while the women scored 479.5 points and sit in second place, trailing host Miami (OH). At the SCAD Invite, the Emory women scored 99 points over two events and are in second place behind the host school, SCAD. The men’s team posted 73 points are in third behind SCAD and South Georgia State College.
In Oxford, OH, the Eagles men’s team recorded nine NCAA “B” Cut times and sophomore Oliver Smithbroke the school record in the 50 Freestyle. After nearly breaking the record in prelims with a time of 20:17, Smith posted an even better time of 19.92 in the finals to break Ross Spock’s record of 20.15 set at the 2014 NCAA Championships. He took first place in the event.
Also recording NCAA qualifying times on the men’s side were junior Christian Baker who claimed first place in the 500 Free with a time of 4:23.95, freshman Thomas Gordon who placed fourth in the 500 Free at 4:34.01 and sophomore Henry Copses who came in 5th during the finals but swam a time of 4:33.96 during prelims. JuniorMitchell Cooper came in second in the 200 IM touching at 1:48.65. Right behind him was sophomore Chandler Lichtefeld with a time of 1:51.21.
The Emory men’s team saw three relay teams post NCAA “B” Cut times as well on Thursday. The 200 Freestyle Relay comprised of freshman Trey Kolleck and sophomoreAaron Schwartz, Alexander Hardwick and Smith took first with a time of 1:21.46. The 400 Medley Relay team comprised of juniors Baker and Cooper and sophomoresCooper Tollen and Smith touched at 3:17.91 to come in second place while the team of freshmen Matt Rogersand Gordon and sophomores Hardwick and Michael Grenoncame in 5th place in the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:22.93.
On the women’s side, Emory saw 13 Eagles swim individual NCAA “B” Cut times to go along with three relay teams.
FreshmanFiona Muirwas the lone first place finisher for Emory in the individual women’s events as she took first in the 50 Free with a time of 23.14. Junior Marissa Berghwas fourth in the event at 23.41. Fellow junior Claire Liu was 15thbut posted an NCAA time of 23.88 as did freshman Meg Taylor who swam a 23.77 to come in 19thplace. In the 200 IM, juniorAnnelise Kowalskyrecorded an NCAA “B” Cut time at 2:03.25 as she took second in the event while freshman Ashley Daniels placed 13thwith a time of 2:07.15. Emory saw six Eagles swim NCAA “B” Cut times in the 500 Free event led by sophomore Rebecca Upton who came in third at 4:52.98. She was followed by sophomores Phoebe Edwards (7th, 4:57.67), Shelby Fruge (9th, 4:58.79 in prelims), Cindy Cheng (10th, 4:55.12) and senior Carolyn Bonfield (14th, 4:59.64).
For the relays, the 200 Free team of freshman Muir and Taylor and juniors Liu and Bergh took second with a time of 1:32.86 while the Emory “A” group in the 400 Medley of Cheng, juniors Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbeand Lui and senior Elizabeth Aronoff came in fourth with a time of 3:46.16 and the “B” group of senior Ellie Thompson, Bergh, Muir and sophomore Fruge took fifth with a time of 3:46.68.
At the SCAD Invitational, Emory saw four NCAA “B” Cut times posted. Freshmen Jonathan Morse and Matt Varravetoin the 1,650 Freestyle, sophomore Isabella Issain the women’s 1,650 and the women’s 800 Freestyle Relay team of Ava Salmi, Hannah Baratz, Kike Afolabi-Brown and Amelia Anderson.
Morse and Varraveto placed second and third in the event with times of 15:53.13 and 15:59.35, respectively while Issa touched with a time of 16:58.08 for a second place showing. The 800 Free Relay quartet swam a time of 7:37.59 to claim first place.
Action will resume at both invitationals on Friday morning as the prelims at Miami will begin at 11:00 AM and the prelims at SCAD will start at 9:00 AM.
Toledo:
OXFORD, OH – The Toledo women’s swimming and diving team opened up their weekend at the Miami Invitational on Thursday and sit in fourth place with 462 points after day one.
The Rockets finished with nine top 10 finishes in today’s events, beginning with a fifth and sixth-place finish in the 200 free relay.
Senior Lauren Comer touched second in the 500 free with a time of 4:50.64, while junior Rachael Hesterfollowed in eighth-place with a 4:58.46.
Sophomore Katrin Streicher recorded a sixth-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:05.16.
Senior Brooke Edwards recorded a 23.55 in the 50 free, which landed her in fifth-place.
The Rockets closed out the day with a second-place finish in the 400 medley with a time of 3:44.46.
The host RedHawks lead the weekend’s invite with 659 points, followed by Emory’s 479.5 points.
Day two is scheduled to begin Friday at 11:00 a.m.
Miami Invite Team Rankings
1. Miami – 659 points
2. Emory – 479.5 points
3. Denison – 465.5 points
4. Toledo – 462 points
5. Ball State – 237.5 points
6. Urbana – 65.5 points
Swimming news courtesy of Miami, Dennison, Toledo, and Emory Swimming & Diving.