Day 1 Finals at the TYR Invitational saw the Michigan State Spartans charge into the overall team lead on the men’s side while the Northwestern women are in possession of a commanding lead in their seven team points race.
The Wildcat women started their winning ways immediately with a comfortable win in the 200 free relay as Mary Warren (23.29), Julia Pratt (23.19), Valerie Nubbe (23.28), and Annika Winsnes (22.78) teamed up to go a 1:32.54 in the opening race. The Wildcats led from start to finish in this race and Winsnes’ strong anchor split put the nail in the coffin in this race as they bested 2nd place Michigan State (1:33.94) and 3rd place Air Force (1:34.05).
The Northwestern men would also take top honors in the 200 free relay with Almog Olshtein (20.52), Gage Kohner (20.61), Andrew Jovanovic (20.40), and Joao Steiner (20.44) combining for the 1:21.97 effort. This was a half second ahead of the top contingent from Saint Louis (1:22.47) while Michigan State took third in 1:22.68.
Michigan State senior Shelby Lacy snared the first individual win of the day for MSU as she won the 50 breast in a 28.52. She was nearly a full second ahead of her nearest competitor Julianne Kurke from Northwestern (29.39) while MSU’s Kennedy Cutler rounded out the top 3 with a 29.44. The Spartan man followed in suit with a win of their own as Alec Kandt (25.21) edged out Northwestern’s Uula Auren (25.49) and Olshtein (25.66) who took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The swim of the night belongs to Air Force’s Genevieve Miller who crushed both her own school record and the Norris Aquatic Center’s pool record in the 500 free. Miller swam a 4:43.90 to just nip the 4:44.19 standard she established last year as a freshman while she also downed the 4:46.11 pool record that was set just last year by second-place finisher Lauren Abruzzo (4:47.75). Both swimmers were under the NCAA B cut of 4:47.79, while Air Force’s Sara Menke took third in a 4:49.09.
In the men’s race, it was a foregone conclusion that NU junior Jordan Wilimovsky would be the one to beat, and he easily bested the field with a NCAA B time of 4:21.70. Wilimovsky was very consistent and split 26 mids across the board to open up a large margin over his nearest competito Jon Burke (4:27.72) from MSU while Joseph Szczupakiewicz (4:29.71) just beat out his teammate Lachlan McLeish 4:29.71-4:29.91 for third.
Air Force roared to another win in the women’s 200 IM as senior Kim Davis ran down Saint Louis’ Morgan Peterson in the final leg of the race to emerge victorious 2:02.34-2:02.68. Davis’ final 50 (28.20) proved to be the deciding factor as she outpaced Peterson’s 28.83 freestyle leg to grab the win. Rounding out the top 3 was Abruzzo of NU in a 2:03.29.
Kandt came off his 50 breaststroke win to double up with a in the men’s 200 IM race with a winning time of 1:49.29. The only competitor under 1:50 seconds, Kandt used a field-best 30.66 breast split to put away the competition as he led a Spartan 1-2-3 finish along with teammates Tal Hanani (1:50.05) and Nate Weeks (1:50.72).
Mary Warren was not able to quite match her prelims time tonight, but she still had enough to win the 50 free in a 22.93. She was well ahead of her teammate Annika Winsnes (23.47) who would take 2nd while Air Force’s Brianna Mount grabbed third in a 23.62. In the men’s race Northwestern grabbed another individual title as Olshtein (20.45) just clipped UIC senior Mike Reed (20.66) to take the event. Finishing in third was MSU’s McLeish in a 20.85.
The Wildcats saved the best for last on Friday as Locke (55.36), Kurke (1:01.95), Aja Malone (54.99), and Winsnes (49.65) teamed up to demolish a 17 year-old pool record held by Stanford (3:43.10) with a winning time of 3:41.95. The Wildcat’s front-half was especially dominant as they led by over 3.5 seconds at the half-way mark, and Winsnes had the fastest anchor split of the entire field to help put the final touch on a historic race. Finishing 2nd was NU’s B relay in a 3:47.07 while Air Force took third in a 3:47.76.
The Spartans grabbed their first relay win of the weekend thanks to the efforts of Alex Trompke (49.42), Kandt (53.55), Jacob Moore (48.31), and McLeish (44.18) who teamed up to win in a 3:15.46. They easily took the event title over Northwestern’s top relay who would take 2nd in a 3:17.75 while Northwestern’s B relay grabbed third in a 3:20.59.
In diving action, MSU led 1-2-3 sweep on the 3 meter board on the women’s side as Allison Menzies (307.15), Cristee Cordes (298.70), and Madeline Sewell (277.30) led the way for the Spartans. In the men’s event, Northwestern’s Andrew Cramer emerged victrious with a total score of 295.65. MSU’s Brennan Lebar (289.25) and Charlie Maurer (275.05) grabbed 2nd and third respectively.
Team Scores after Day 1:
Women
Northwestern: 366
Michigan State: 287
Air Force: 173
UIC: 108
Saint Louis: 95
Truman State: 84
Northern Iowa: 36 (only divers)
Men
Michigan State: 419
Northwestern: 285
Saint Louis: 155
UIC: 138
Truman State: 91