13-Year-Old Pool Records Fall as Loyola Sweeps H2ounds Invitational vs. Howard, Iona

2022 H2ounds Invitational

• Dec. 2-3, 2022
• Mangione Aquatic Center
  • Baltimore, MD
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

Loyola swept the men’s and women’s standings at its annual H2ounds Invitational against visiting Howard, Iona, VMI and Catholic University.

Team Scores

Men

1. Loyola – 1,230.5
2. Howard – 890.5
3. Iona – 652
4. VMI – 561
5. Catholic – 45

Women

1. Loyola – 1,188
2. Iona – 839
3. Howard – 824
4. VMI – 410
5. Mt. St. Mary’s – 39
6. Catholic – 39

7 Golds in 7 Races for Loyola’s Lily Mead

The host Greyhounds took down a few records on the way to their wins. The Loyola women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of junior Lily Mead (22.93), freshman Michela Schultz (23.34), sophomore Fay Moser (23.45) and Charley Tulio (23.18) triumphed with a time of 1:32.90. The quartet shaved more than a second off of the previous pool record from 2009 (Rider University, 1:34.10) while also dropping over a second off the school record from 2019 (1:34.28).

Mead also matched her own school record in the 100 backstroke on the opening leg of the 400 medley relay (53.59) on Friday. She picked up individual victories in the 100 breast (1:03.05), 200 breast (2:16.53), and 200 IM (2:00.16) to go along with her wins in the 400 medley relay (3:43.87), 200 free relay, 200 medley relay (1:43.15), and 400 free relay (3:26.78). Overall, Mead finished a perfect 7-for-7 on the weekend.

The Loyola men’s 400 medley relay squad of sophomore Patrick Hayburn (49.00), senior Max Verheyen (54.12), sophomore Harry Hearn (47.88), and sophomore Henry Mueller (44.20) combined for a total time of 3:15.20, sneaking under the previous pool record of 3:15.37 by Johns Hopkins.

Hearn wasn’t far off the 100 fly school record individually with his first-place finish in 48.27, slightly slower than Reid Hussey’s 48.05 from the Patriot League Championships in February. He also reached the wall first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:49.36.

Loyola senior Jack Still won the 3-meter (296.95) and 1-meter diving competitions (280.95) by comfortable margins.

Howard’s Miles Simon Breaks Pool Record from 2009

Howard had a strong showing in Baltimore, an hour north of its Washington, D.C. campus. The men’s team placed second with 890.5 points while the women’s team placed third with 824.

On the men’s side, the Bison clocked 15 Northeast Conference-leading times. Howard senior Miles Simon went 19.92 to win the 50 free individually before hitting a 19.85 lead-off in the 200 free relay. Simon was just getting started as he rewrote school records in the 100 free (44.19), 100 back (48.53), and 100 fly (48.58). His 100 free time also broke a pool record (44.26 by Rider’s Drew Modrov) that had remained untouched since 2009.

Simon (48.53) combined with Darin Johnson (55.35), Taj Benton (48.94), and Mark-Anthony Beckles (44.01) to set a new school record of 3:16.83 in the 400 medley relay. The time also leads the conference this season.

Howard freshman Zuilda Nwaeze highlighted a big weekend for the Bison women with a school record in the 500 free. She placed second with a conference-leading time of 5:06.13.

Additionally, Nwaeze led off the 200 free relay team with a 24.15 split to help the squad place second in 1:35.42. Kelsey Roberson (23.99), Michaela Spears (23.58), and Isabella Fountain (23.70) contributed to the effort as well. Fountain missed first place by just one one-hundredth of a second behind Loyola’s Charley Tulio in the 50 free, but her time of 23.78 is still good for a conference-leading mark this season.

Fellow freshman Skylar Debnam also reset a school record in the 1650 free with a fourth-place finish in 17:51.93.

The meet was the last of the year for Howard, which returns to action Jan. 14 against UMBC at home.

Iona’s Michael Faughnan Resets Oldest Men’s School Record

Iona edged Howard for second place on the women’s side while finishing third on the men’s side.

Iona junior Michael Faughnan toppled the men’s longest-standing school record in the 100 free with his fourth-place finish in 45.26. He was .16 faster than the super-suited time swam by Seth Tashman in 2009. Faughnan also lowered the school record in the 200 back, where he went 1:47.21, while securing gold in the 500 free (4:33.49) and silver in the 1650 free (16:01.39).

Victoria Novinskiy led the Iona women with wins in the 100 back (56.96) and 200 back (2:01.45), both of which represented new school records. Her 200 back time was 1.73 seconds faster than Meghan Pattison’s previous mark from 2019. Novinskiy also notched a runner-up finish in the 200 IM with another school record of 2:05.91, .25 seconds under the previous mark set by Maryellen Mangione in 2016.

Isabella Nicholson also won multiple events for the Gaels with victories in the 100 free (51.69) and 200 free (1:52.35). Nicholson (1:51.61) teamed up with Novinskiy (1:53.85), Elisa Vaher (1:58.45), and Megan Josephs (1:55.69) to bring home gold in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:39.70.

Iona senior Tristan Urso notched a new lifetime best in the women’s 400 IM with a 4:33.62. She added a silver in the 1650 free (17:44.35) and a bronze in the 500 free (5:08.15).

“We really competed well in Baltimore,” Iona coach Nick Cavataro said. ” Our group has big goals for this year and we have made a lot of progress, but they all know the MAAC has quality and depth in every event and we will have to keep moving ahead every day.”

Iona has dual meets against rivals Fairfield (Jan. 21), Fordham (Jan. 25), and Manhattan (Jan. 28) next month before the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships in February.