As day three of this championship meet rolled around records in almost every Women’s event were thrown out the window during prelims. Eleven records in total were lowered: 9 to the ladies, and 2 for the men. Of those records, 8 were lowered again in tonight’s finals.
(Of note, Michigan native Peter Vanderkaay, and National Team’er Michael Klueh, were both on hand to take in night 3 of the Summit League Championships).400 Individual Medley
Going into this event, the Oakland University ladies were seeded in the top three spots and were set up in the very same order as the past two years: Balogh, Stears, Ludema. Natalie Trout of IUPUI (4:35.19) and Andee Budahl of SDSU (4:30.03) broke school records in their morning prelims. As expected, the OU women went 1-2-3 in the aforementioned order with the respective times of 4:20.10, 4:21.12, and 4:21.32. Also worth mentioning is Natalie Trout of IUPUI who was able to once again lower her school record to 4:32.67.
Western Illinois’ freshman swimmer Matt Abercrombie snuck up on the men of OU in the morning prelims to capture the first place seed in the final. Until this year, the men from OU have dominated this event, taking this title home basically since dinosaurs became extinct. In the end, though, Jorden Merrilees and Mitchel Alters of OU must have had something left in the tank for tonight. Merrilees finished first with a time of 3:55.53 and Alters after him at 3:58.56. Abercrombie touched third at 4:02.58.
100 Butterfly
LIzzie Bourgeois of IUPUI was seeded first in this event just 5 one-hundredths off her own school record, followed by OU teammates Christine Seiple and Sandra Czerska. Notably, Kaylin Caron from South Dakota State University and Kate Page from Eastern Illinois were able to lower their respective school records to 57.14 and 57.53 with their morning prelim swims. In the finals, Sandra Czerska of OU took down the league record and also made B cuts touching at 53.97. Lizzie Bourgeois of IUPUI took second at 54.63 lowering her school record, and Christine Seiple took third at 55.80. Additionally, we saw two of the school records broken earlier by Kaylin Caron and Kate Paige being lowered once again to 56.07 and 56.69, respectively.
No records broken on the Men’s side tonight, but OUs Mario Rusnak did make B cuts with his 47.89 swim. Second place went to Alex Aceino at 48.74, followed by Colin Krysl of the University of South Dakota at 49.91
200 Freestyle
Nikki Flynn, a freshman from OU, pulled out on top in this event with a season best time of 1:51.27. Grace Waller, also from OU and quite an inspirational young woman, took second at 1:52.35. Third place went to South Dakota State University’s Nicole Grimit with a time of 1:52.75.
As expected, Amr El Sayed (OU) took first place in this event with a B cut qualifying time of 1:36.10. Second went to Matyas Keresztes (OU) at 1:38.08. Tony Carroll of IUPUI claimed third place beating his own school record, set in prelims earlier, at 1:38.35. South Dakota State University’s Kyle Ochsner was also able to lower his school record to 1:40.76.
100 Breaststroke
Let’s just take a minute to reflect on this morning’s prelim swims. Not one, not two, but three school records were broken. Shannon Moceri of South Dakota took down Johanna Gustafsson’s 2012 league record with a time of 1:01.69. This swim is not only a school (by over two seconds) pool and league record, it also provided Moceri with a NCAA B cut time. Jennifer Oleksiak also took down IUPUI’s school record with a time of 1:04.62, along with EIU’s Kelli Dicanio touching at 1:05.59 to lower her school record. Three records taken down, and those were just the prelims. Moceri came through again to finish first and lower the pool, school, and league record with a final time of 1:01.68. Maddie Hutt of Omaha took second and tied with her school record at 1:04.17. IUPUI’s Jennifer Oleksiak finished third, also lowering her school record set earlier in prelims, touching at 1:04.59.
On the Men’s side, OU Senior Tobias Hansen touched first at 55:47, just one second off the league record. Second and third place went to Kayce Smith and Shea Patrick of SDSU at 55.63 and 57.25, respectively.
100 Backstroke
Women’s 100 Back prelims also saw some records this morning: Lexi Laird of IUPUI and Mackenzie Anderson of EIU lowered their school records to 55.94 and 57.10, respectively. OU women swept the finals tonight: Karin Tomeckova (54.03), Alyssa Busch (54.74) and Kyra Rietveld (55.02) all made B cuts with their respective times. Laird was also able to lower her school record set earlier to 55.55.
Anders Jensen and Grant Harding of OU claimed the top two spots and B cuts with their finals swims tonight; Jensen touching first at 47.16 and Harding following at 48.48. Colin McGill was able to lower EIUs school record in this event to 49.91 with his prelim swim, and was able to place third in the finals with a 50.16 swim. Notably, had McGill’s not broken the school record earlier today he still would have done so with tonight’s final.
Women’s One-Meter Diving
Top honors yet again go to Tricia Grant of OU with her league record score of 301.40. Megan Chmielewski of USD claimed second place with 238.10 points, followed by Miranda Knipfer from Omaha with 236.10.
400 Medley Relay
Women were on fire tonight; this race provided three out of seven teams with new school records. First three places went as so: OU (Tomeckova, Busch, Czerska, Flynn) 3:43.34, IUPUI (Laird, Bray, Bourgeois, Oleksiak) 3:44.70, SDSU (Newberger, Smith, Caron, Dalin) 3:50.81. IUPUIs second place finish scored their ladies a new school record, as did SDSU’s third place. The University of South Dakota relay team was also able to set a new school record at 3:51.67.
Anders Jensen, Tobias Hansen, Mario Rusnak, and Grant Harding of OU took first in the last event of the night finished at 3:14.23 – they very well could have broken the league record of 3:12.33 had their butterfly leg entry been better executed. USD followed second, touching at 3:23.23 and SDSU for third at 3:23.57. Finally, IUPUI men were able to lower yet another school record with a 3:25.41 fourth place finish.
Full results including splits: http://www.ougrizzlies.com/livestats/c-swim/index.htm
Women – Team Rankings – After day 3
1. Oakland University 696.5
2. University of Nebraska Omaha 385.5
3. IUPUI Jaguars 357
4. South Dakota State University 306
5. The University of South Dakota 285
6. Eastern Illinois University 197
7. Western Illinois University 114
Men – Team Rankings – After day 3
1. Oakland University 707
2. South Dakota State University 342
2. IUPUI Jaguars 301
4. Eastern Illinois University 298
4. Western Illinois University 259
6. The University of South Dakota 237