2018 IU Invitational: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

2018 IU INVITATIONAL

  • Thursday-Saturday, November 15-17th
  • Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center, Bloomington, IN
  • Short Course Yards
  • Live Results

Day 1 finals at the IU Invitational are set to get underway from Bloomington, with some of the nation’s top teams including Indiana, NC State and Louisville ready to go to battle.

The heats this morning had some impressive performances, including the fastest 50 freestyles so far this season from Ky-lee Perry (21.80) and Nyls Korstanje (19.29), both of NC State. Read a full recap of the first session here.

Women’s 200 Free Relay Timed Final

  1. NC State, 1:27.64
  2. Louisville, 1:28.46
  3. Indiana, 1:29.89

The NC State had the fastest lead-off in the field from Kylee Alons (22.26), and then got three consecutive 21-second splits from Ky-lee Perry (21.78), Elise Haan (21.87) and Sirena Rowe (21.73) to win the women’s 200 free relay in a time of 1:27.64. That gets them well under the NCAA Automatic standard of 1:28.61, and runners-up Louisville also got under it in 1:28.46.

The Cardinals had a pair of sub-22 legs from Mallory Comerford (21.40) and Casey Fanz (21.85) swimming 2nd and 4th respectively, while Indiana took 3rd in 1:29.89 with their top split from anchor Christie Jensen (22.09).

Men’s 200 Free Relay Timed Final

  1. NC State, 1:16.41
  2. Indiana, 1:17.37
  3. Arizona State, 1:18.39

The NC State men definitively beat Indiana by close to a second to win the 200 free relay, as both teams got under the NCAA Auto time of 1:18.11 in 1:16.41 and 1:17.37 respectively.

Nyls Korstanje (19.48) gave them the slight edge over the Hoosier’s on the lead-off, and then a pair of sub-19 splits from Justin Ress (18.80) and Jacob Molacek (18.91) opened up close to a full second lead. Giovanni Izzo anchored for them in 19.22.

The Indiana team was made up of Zach Apple (19.50), Bruno Blaskovic (19.26), Vini Lanza (19.30) and Mohamed Samy (19.31), while ASU (1:18.39) edged out Louisville (1:18.78) and NC State ‘B’ (1:18.89) in the race for 3rd.

The top splits for those three teams came from Ethan Luc (19.43), Andrej Barna (19.73 lead-off) and Coleman Stewart (19.35).

Women’s 500 Free Finals

  1. Cassy Jernberg, IU, 4:39.96
  2. Sophie Cattermole, LOU, 4:41.97
  3. Noelle Peplowski, IU, 4:42.10

Cassy Jernberg of Indiana led nearly wire-to-wire to defend her top seed from prelims and win the women’s 500 in a time of 4:39.96, becoming just the 5th woman sub-4:40 so far this season (coming into today). The swim came just seven-tenths off her best of 4:39.22 from the 2018 B1G Championships in February, and is also under the time that got invited to last season’s NCAAs (4:40.50).

Louisville’s Sophie Cattermole, who was a season-best 4:43.92 last weekend, improved that by two seconds to place 2nd in 4:41.97, using a strong last 50 to get by IU freshman Noelle Peplowski (4:42.10). Peplowski dropped close to nine seconds this morning in 4:42.22, and chops another tenth off tonight.

Maria Heitmann (4:43.46) of Indiana was just two-tenths off her best to win the B-final over Louisville’s Arina Openysheva (4:43.92), as both swimmers dropped around three seconds from the prelims.

Men’s 500 Free Finals

  1. Marcelo Acosta, LOU, 4:17.43
  2. Benjamin Olszewski, ASU, 4:18.61
  3. Michael Brinegar, IU, 4:19.10

Slightly trailing ASU’s Benjamin Olszewski at the 300 mark, Louisville’s Marcelo Acosta held his final four 50s under 26 to win the men’s 500 in a time of 4:17.43. That slightly improves his season-best of 4:18.09 from the ACC vs Big Ten meet last weekend, and keeps him at 5th in the country.

Olszewski was 2nd in 4:18.61, slipping under his prelim swim of 4:18.94 and just missing his best time of 4:18.49. IU freshman Michael Brinegar was the third swimmer under 4:20 in 4:19.10, slashing two-tenths off his PB from March.

Women’s 200 IM Finals

  1. Bailey Andison, IU, 1:55.70
  2. Christie Jensen, IU, 1:56.92
  3. Mac Looze, IU, 1:56.96

The Hoosier women swept the top-3 spots in the women’s 200 IM, led by Bailey Andison in a time of 1:55.70. Andison was a 1:56.04 last weekend at Purdue, and improves that down a few tenths to remain 4th in the country in the event (could be different when all is said and done tonight). She had the top splits in the field on back (29.13) and free (27.55).

Fly specialist Christie Jensen took 2nd in 1:56.92, narrowly holding off freshman teammate Mac Looze (1:56.96). Jensen just missed her PB of 1:56.76, while Looze had set a best in the heats of 1:57.57 and now brings it down six more tenths. Her morning swim was her first time sub-2:00.

Men’s 200 IM Finals

  1. Andreas Vazaios, NCS, 1:43.02
  2. Jacob Molacek, NCS, 1:43.78
  3. Mohamed Samy, IU, 1:44.10

NC State’s Andreas Vazaios, who went the #1 time in the nation last weekend (1:42.44) at the ACC/Big Ten College Challenge, was the fastest on backstroke (24.93) and 2nd-fastest on breast (29.83) in the field to win the men’s 200 IM in 1:43.02. He went 1-2 with teammate Jacob Molacek, who finished just .07 off his best time from 2015 in 1:43.78.

The top-2 seeds out of prelims, Indiana’s Mohamed Samy (1:44.10) and Vini Lanza (1:44.42) settled for 3rd and 4th tonight, with Samy improving his prelim PB and Lanza posting a season-best.

ASU’s Danny Comforti, who broke 1:46 for the first time this morning in 1:45.61, cracked 1:45 tonight for 4th in 1:44.91 with the field’s top breast leg (29.32).

Women’s 50 Free Finals

  1. Mallory Comerford, LOU, 21.88
  2. Ky-lee Perry, NCS, 22.03
  3. Sirena Rowe, NCS, 22.26

Mallory Comerford improved her prelim swim by six one-hundredths to win the women’s 50 free tonight over NC State’s Ky-lee Perry, coming just .01 off her personal best time in 21.88.

Perry, who set the nation’s top time this morning in 21.80, was just over two-tenths slower to take 2nd tonight in 22.03. Her teammate Sirena Rowe, who had the fastest split on their relay earlier in the session, dropped her prelim time by .01 for her 2nd-fastest swim ever in 22.26 to take 3rd.

Louisville had a strong showing overall in this event, with a total of five women 22.60 or better in tonight’s finals.

Men’s 50 Free Finals

  1. Justin Ress, NCS, 19.38
  2. Zach Apple, IU, 19.47
  3. Bruno Blaskovic, IU, 19.50

Justin Ress edged a competitive field in the men’s 50 free, clocking 19.38 to improve on his prelim season-best of 19.42. Zach Apple of Indiana was a tenth better than the heats to take 2nd in 19.47, and his Hoosier teammate Bruno Blaskovic (who was 19.39 this morning) was 3rd in 19.50.

NC State’s Nyls Korstanje was the fastest this morning in 19.29, a time that remains the fastest in the nation so far, but added three-tenths tonight to settle for 4th in 19.59.

Women’s 400 Medley Relay Timed Final

  1. Louisville, 3:30.55
  2. NC State, 3:31.31
  3. Indiana, 3:31.65

The Louisville women’s 400 medley team came into this weekend as the only relay squad to have hit an automatic NCAA standard so far this year with their 3:31.45 from the SMU Classic, and they improved on that by almost a full second tonight to edge out NC State and Indiana.

They trailed both teams heading into the freestyle, where Mallory Comerford dropped a massive 46.61 split to bring them the victory in 3:30.55 for the fastest time in the nation. She was joined on the relay by Alina Kendzior (52.86), Maria Astashkina (59.81) and Grace Oglesby (51.27). Oglesby also had the fastest fly split in the field.

Elise Haan had the top backstroke leg for NC State in 51.99, and then Sophie Hansson (58.79), Kylee Alons (52.49) and Ky-lee Perry (48.04) also swam well as they got under the auto standard of 3:32.20 in 3:31.31.

Indiana also got under it in 3:31.65, with Lilly King producing a blistering 56.33 breaststroke leg which was two and a half seconds clear of the next fastest split. Christie Jensen also had an elite 51.43 leg on fly, and Grace Haskett (54.57) and Laurel Eiber (49.32) swam their lead-off and anchor legs.

Purdue (3:36.09) edged ASU (3:36.98) for 4th.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay Timed Final

  1. NC State, 3:04.88
  2. Indiana, 3:05.72
  3. Arizona State, 3:07.86

The Wolfpack men completed the relay double for the day with a very impressive 3:04.88 win in the 400 medley, registering not only the top time in the nation (coming into tonight), but also an NCAA Auto standard by close to two seconds (3:06.78).

Vazaios gave them the lead on the back leg in 45.85, and Daniel Graber (52.50) managed to maintain their advantage over Indiana and Ian Finnerty (52.09) heading into the fly. Coleman Stewart out-split Vini Lanza by close to a full second in 44.79, and then Justin Ress finished things off on the way home in 41.74.

Gabriel Fantoni led off for Indiana in 46.43, and then Finnerty, Lanza (45.75) and Zach Apple (41.45) came in for a final time of 3:05.72 to also get under the automatic standard.

Arizona State had four strong legs to take 3rd in 3:07.86 over Louisville (3:08.45), with Zachary Poti hitting a notable 45.99 backstroke lead-off.

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#1 michael brinegar fan
5 years ago

i love michael brinegar

Riley
5 years ago

Impressed by State’s 400 medley. Wonder if Graber will be good to dip in to a 51 low when it matters in March. Their other three legs are obviously strong. On paper it’s a no brainer that IU wins this but Finnerty doesn’t seem to be the biggest relay swimmer. With the emergence of Scheinfeld for TX and Cal looking great this year this will be a great race!

Swimmer
Reply to  Riley
5 years ago

The Wolfpack were just 0.7 sec behind IU for 2nd place last year at NCAAs. With a little breaststroke help NC State could sweep all the relays.

Silent Observer
Reply to  Swimmer
5 years ago

You might be forgetting about Cal?

They probably have the best chance to do some Medley relay damage and “upset” IU

Swimmer
Reply to  Silent Observer
5 years ago

Agree. Cal has the potential. They were supposed to sweep the sprint relays last year and couldn’t get it done. A lot of teams will have big “ifs” this year.

Swammer
Reply to  Swimmer
5 years ago

You’re right they could win all the relays except for the 200 medley which on paper NC State looks great but they always underperform in March for some reason. State fans don’t like to talk about the 200 medley relay.

Swimmer
Reply to  Swammer
5 years ago

Not underperform. They just lack the depth

Swimmer
Reply to  Swimmer
5 years ago

They just crushed the 200MR in Indy.

ACC fan
5 years ago

Thank you for the recap James. Third leg of the women’s NC State relay was Elise Haan, not Anna Jahns. And that relay put up the #1 time in the nation including what Stanford just went at OSU Invite.

PVSFree
5 years ago

Brandon Hamblin, a freshman from Indiana, quietly splitting a 19.34 on the IU C relay

Rsquad
Reply to  PVSFree
5 years ago

Later broke 20 flat start for the first time going 19.8 knowing .3 off his previous pb

SwimGeek
Reply to  PVSFree
5 years ago

Awesome swims for Hamblin. He split 19.6 at the Texas dual meet last month, so he’s been on a roll. He’s from the same training group at Burke that graduated Sam Pomajevich and Lane Stone just one year earlier.

SwimGeek
Reply to  SwimGeek
5 years ago

(Same NCAP-Burke training group)

Sweetie T
5 years ago

Great job by the Wolfpack men and ladies relays just a a start of a great meet and season by the Pack

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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