Courtesy: Akron Athletics
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips women’s swimming & diving team hit the water for the first time of the 2020-21 season at the Zips Only Classic, their annual intrasquad meet, as the Gold Squad (32,084 pts.) earned a 1,469-point victory over the Blue Squad (30,615 pts.) on Friday and Saturday at the Ocasek Natatorium.
The Zips Only Classic showcased six swimmers setting nine personal best times, led by sophomore Sara Bozso with three personal best marks. Sophomore Victoria Kaufman set a pair PR times while junior Lauren Cooper, sophomore Rachel Schiffli, sophomore Olivia DeRodes and freshman Rachel Sabotin each had one PR time each.
Although the times will not count towards qualifying for the NCAA Championships, the meet saw every swimmer in every event achieve a NCAA Top 100 fastest time in the country to date, including 12 times in the Top 10.
Junior Sarah Watson posted three Top 5 performances with a second-best 53.06 in the 100 fly, third-best 100 free (49.23) and fifth-best 50 free (22.68) while freshman Astrid Halvorsen claimed the fastest 1650 Free time 16:48.15 (1st) and added a sixth-best 400 IM time (4:21.24). Additionally, junior Sofia Henell captured a pair of fourth-best top times 50 free (22.67) and 100 free (49.36).
Also achieving what would be considered as Top 10 status were sophomore Andrea Galisteo 1650 free (3rd, 17:15.30), senior Brooke Lamoureux 1650 free (4th, 17:23.93), sophomore Gail Workman 1650 free (5th, 17:46.67), senior Paula Garcia 100 breast (6th, 1:00.96) and sophomore Weronika Gorecka 200 back (10th, 1:58.93).
The two-day, three-session meet features the Zips’ roster divided into two teams, the Blue Squad and the Gold Squad, and presented a unique scoring system based on “Zippy Power Points” for individual scoring – the relays were treated as exhibition events. The scoring scale was based on the FINA scale for short course meters. However, to score 1000 or more points a swimmer needed to match or better their personal best time (or converted best). Divers total scores were multiplied by four.
Session 1 – six events – five scored events
After the first session the Blue Squad (11,402) built a 34-point advantage over the Gold Squad (11,368).
In the first event, the Zips’ 200 Medley Relays showed strong performances. Cooper led off the winning relay, splitting 25.28, followed closely by freshman Madelyn Gatrall (25.83). Garcia narrowly out split junior Andrea Fischer 27.84 to 27.94. Watson opened up the lead with a 23.35 fly split. Henell dropped a 22.34 helping the Zips’ A Relay finish with a 1:38.81.
In the 500 Free, the first scoring event of the evening, Halvorsen posted the fastest time with a 4:53.96. However, it was Kaufman posting a 5:06.69 (5th place) that scored the most points (1023 points). This eclipsed Kaufman’s best by 1.75 seconds.
The quickest time from the 200 IM came from Garcia (2:03.49, 929 points). Bozso was the high point scorer (1045 points) as she hit a new personal best (2:08.62).
In the 50 Freestyle it was a close race between Henell (22.67) and Watson (22.68). Henell got her hand on the wall first out touching Watson by 0.01. However, it was Schiffli (23.34) and Sabotin (24.19) who tied with 1005 points and personal bests.
In 1-Meter Diving it was sophomore Paige Kalik winning the event with a score of 233.92, giving 935 points to the Blue Squad. Senior Megan Nugent was second with 222.00 and 888 points for the Gold Squad. Sophomore Emily Walkovichscored 206.70 adding 827 points for the Blue Squad.
The first session concluded with 200 Free Relay. The team of Watson (22.75), Schiffli (23.34), Henell (22.53) and Cooper (23.37) won the event with a 1:31.99. Kaufman (22.87) and Halvorsen (23.09) had notable splits from the B team.
Session 2 – five scored events
The Gold Squad battled to claim its first lead in session two, establishing 21,706 points and taking a 751-point lead on the Blue Squad (20,955).
The 400 Individual medley opened the second session as senior Ally Wharton (4:34.01, 936 points) claimed the most points for the Gold Squad followed by Workman (4:37.80, 911 points), junior Olivia Gardner (4:26.59, 892 points) and freshman GiovannaCappabianca (4:32.40, 891 points). The Gold Squad totaled 3,630 points for the event. As for the Blue Squad, Halvorsen recorded the fastest time of 4:21.24 and earned the lone 912 points for the Blue team.
In the 100 Butterfly, Watson recorded the unofficial second-fastest time in the country (53.06). However, DeRodes picked-up the most points (1044) with a personal best 57.79 time. Gold outpaced Blue 2,920 to 1,933.
Henell won event No. 9, the 200 Freestyle, with a 1:50.25 time, scoring 911 points for the Blue. Lamoureux added 884 points with a 1:55.84 time for a 1,795 total. Kaufman and Galisteo finished 0.24 apart as Kaufman touched first (1:53.25) for 917 points and Galisteo followed with a 1:53.49 for 960 points.
The Blue Squad outscored Gold 2,978-926 as Bozso notched one of three personal best times for 1057 points in the 100 Breaststroke. Fischer clocked a second-best time (1:02.83) for 936 points and Garcia won the race with a 1:50.25 time.
The final event of the second session was the 100 Backstroke as Gorecka placed first (54.72) for 971 points, but Gatrall was the highest point receiver with 985 points for a second-best 55.10 time. Cooper and Gardner finished third (55.29) and fourth (59.12), respectively.
Session 3 – seven events – six scored events
The Gold Squad maintained the lead throughout the final session en route to the Zips Only Classic Championship.
Halvorsen opened the session with an unofficial best time in the country for the 1650 Freestyle (16:48.15) while the rest of the field posted third (Galisteo, 17:15.30), fourth (Lamoureux, 17:23.93) and fifth (Workman, 17:46.67) place times.
Gorecka won the 200 Backstroke by more than two seconds with a 1:58.92 time while the 100 Freestyle featured four outstanding efforts. Watson (49.23) and Henell (49.36) finished one-two, respectively, and touched with the unofficial third and fourth best times to date. Cooper (51.29) and Kaufman (51.10) added excitement to the event, clocking personal best times for 1,061 and 1,045 points, respectively.
The 200 Breaststroke and 200 Butterfly closed out the swimming scoring as Bozso improved her previous 200 Breast time (2:21.45) by just under 5-seconds (2:16.49) and earned the most points for the meet, 1,100 points. Garcia won the event with a 2:13.85 time. The 200 Fly saw less than a second between competitors as Halvorsen (2:03.47), Riker (2:04.26) and Cappabianca (2:05.87) placed in that order.
Off the boards, Kalick won the 3-Meter event with a 247.17 score for 1,096 points. Senior Andrea Bugariu earned runner-up with a 238.28 performance. On the platform, Nugent and Walkovich scored 208.5 and 116.1 points, respectively, for 834 and 464 points.
The final event of the Zips Only Classic, Akron’s A 400 Free Relay team touching the wall first (3:21.15). Schiffli led-off in 51.41 followed by Kaufman’s 50.49. Watson threw down a smoking 48.80 and Henell brought it home in 50.45. All relay teams posted Top 100 times.