2018 Ohio State Invitational: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2018 OHIO STATE INVITATIONAL

• November 15-17, 2018
• Columbus, Ohio
• McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets (Updated)
• Live Streamed on BTN2GO
• Session Timelines (Tentative)
• Live Results
• Friday Prelim Results (PDF)
• Friday Finals Heat Sheet

Day 2 finals from the Ohio State Invite will be a busy one with seven different events on the slate. Among the highlights will be Ella Eastin and Brooke Forde shooting for the #1 time in the country in the women’s 400 IM, Taylor Ruck‘s double in the 200 free and 100 back, and Kentucky’s Asia Seidt closing in on an ‘A’ cut in that same 100 back. Click here for a full recap of the prelims.

Note: Ruck has scratched out of the 200 free tonight.

Women’s 200 Medley Relay Timed Final

• Meet Record: 1:36.42, Florida, 2013

1. Stanford, 1:37.26
2. Notre Dame, 1:38.20
3. Ohio State, 1:38.47

The Stanford team of Lucie Nordmann (24.84), Zoe Bartel (27.59), Amalie Fackenthal (23.27) and Taylor Ruck (21.56) combined to win the women’s 200 medley relay in a time of 1:37.26, narrowly missing the NCAA Auto standard of 1:36.75 (but did get under the provisional time of 1:37.39).

Notre Dame gave them a run the entire race, sitting just .09 back heading into the freestyle leg before ultimately finishing almost a full second back in 1:38.20. Carly Quast (24.61) out-split Nordmann on backstroke, and Meaghan O’Donnell (27.60), Cailey Grunhard (23.58) and Abbie Dolan (22.41) all had solid splits as well.

Ohio State (1:38.47) and Kentucky (1:38.93) also cracked 1:39, with their most notable splits coming from Marianne Kahmann (24.79) on back and Asia Seidt (23.14) on fly respectively.

Men’s 200 Medley Relay Timed Final

• Meet Record: 1:23.53, NC State, 2017

1. Notre Dame, 1:26.41
2. West Virginia, 1:26.76
3. Pittsburgh, 1:26.86

Notre Dame won a tight race with WVU and Pittsburgh to win the men’s 200 medley relay in 1:26.41, with Jack Montesi throwing down a 21.69 backstroke lead-off and Matthew Limbacher splitting 24.20 on breast.

West Virginia (1:26.76) had strong legs from David Dixon (20.72) on fly and Merwane Elmerini (19.14) on free, while Pittsburgh (1:26.86) had a 24.01 breast split from Jason Young and a 20.61 fly leg from Blaise Vera.

Women’s 100 Fly Final

• Meet Record: 51.05, Janet Hu (STAN), 2016

1. Aliena Schmidtke, UN-OH, 51.76
2. Nikki Smith, ND, 52.80
3. Izzy Gati, UKY, 52.84

Ohio State post-grad Aliena Schmidtke dominated the women’s 100 fly field to win by a full second in 51.76, as the German native had her 2nd-fastest performance ever.

Notre Dame senior Nikki Smith further improved her season-best set this morning (52.99) in 2nd in 52.80, and Kentucky freshman Izzy Gati improved her prelim best time of 52.98 down to 52.84 for 4th. Amalie Fackenthal of Stanford, who led the heats in 52.77, ended up 4th in 53.07.

Men’s 100 Fly Final

• Meet Record: 45.01, Caeleb Dressel (FLOR), 2015

1. Michael Salazar, OSU, 46.84
2. Aaron Schultz, ND, 46.87
3. Blaise Vera, PITT, 47.18

Ohio State senior Michael Salazar narrowly held off Notre Dame junior Aaron Schultz to win the men’s 100 fly in 46.84, with Schultz lowering his prelim time by just under a tenth but falling .03 short in 46.87. Schultz’s 46.95 in the heats had been his fastest ever at a mid-season invite until this swim.

Pittsburgh’s Blaise Vera, who dropped close to two seconds this morning in 46.96, was a tick slower tonight for 3rd in 47.18, while Fighting Irish freshman Zachary Smith (47.41) took 4th over junior teammate Jack Montesi (47.49).

Women’s 400 IM Final

• Meet Record: 4:00.36, Ella Eastin (STAN), 2016

1. Ella Eastin, STAN, 4:00.70
2. Brooke Forde, STAN, 4:04.89
3. Kathrin Demler, OSU, 4:07.06

Three-time defending NCAA champ Ella Eastin won the women’s 400 IM by four seconds in 4:00.70 to surpass Sydney Pickrem (4:01.73) for the top time in the country and narrowly miss her 2016 meet record of 4:00.36. She was also just a few tenths off her fastest ever swim in October (4:00.02 from the 2017 College Challenge), but was faster than she was last season at the Art Adamson Invite (4:00.74).

Her sophomore teammate Brooke Forde had set the #2 time in the country this morning in 4:05.20, and lowered that by three-tenths to take 2nd in 4:04.89, two seconds off where she was at this time last year (4:02.0 at College Challenge, 4:02.8 at Art Adamson).

Kathrin Demler of Ohio State destroyed her previous best time of 4:08.83 from the 2017 NCAAs to take 3rd in 4:07.06, and Cardinal junior Allie Szekely was just a few tenths off where she was at this time last year for 4th in 4:07.98.

Men’s 400 IM Final

• Meet Record: 3:41.26, Sebastien Rousseau (FLOR), 2013

1. Marci Barta, ND, 3:41.67
2. Samy Helmbacher, PITT, 3:46.12
3. Andrew Winton, ND, 3:47.30

Notre Dame freshman Marci Barta dropped the fastest time so far in the NCAA season to win the men’s 400 IM in a blazing 3:41.67, lowering his best time by four seconds. Barta had swum a lifetime best 3:45.95 last weekend at the ACC vs Big Ten Challenge. Barta is well under the time that got invited to NCAAs last season (3:43.89), and is only two seconds shy of the ‘A’ cut (3:39.37).

Samy Helmbacher of Pittsburgh, who won the ACC/B1G meet in the top time in the country of 3:44.43, was well back in the runner-up position in 3:46.12.

Women’s 200 Free Final

• Meet Record: 1:41.90, Simone Manuel (STAN), 2016

1. Katie Drabot, STAN, 1:45.36
2. Geena Freriks, UKY, 1:45.65
3. Abbie Dolan, ND, 1:45.79

With Taylor Ruck scratching out of the event after posting the top time in the prelims, her junior teammate Katie Drabot picked up the women’s 200 free win in 1:45.36, edging out Kentucky’s Geena Freriks (1:45.65) and Notre Dame’s Abbie Dolan (1:45.79). Drabot is about a second slower than she was last year in October (1:44.26 at College Challenge, 1:44.76 at Art Adamson).

Both Freriks and Dolan added a bit of time from prelims, while 4th place finisher Morgan Tankersley of Stanford had her fastest swim since last December in 1:46.59.

Men’s 200 Free Final

• Meet Record: 1:33.92, Justin Ress (NCS), 2017

1. Ruslan Gaziev, OSU, 1:34.97
2. Sadler McKeen, ND, 1:35.56
3. Jason Head, UKY / Andrew Loy, OSU, 1:35.59

After chopping two seconds off his best time this morning, OSU freshman Ruslan Gaziev dropped another tonight to win the men’s 200 free in 1:34.97, solidifying the win with a blazing final 50 of 23.97. Gaziev is a Canadian and is therefore swimming his first yards season (hence the large drops in time).

Notre Dame’s Sadler McKeen and Kentucky’s Jason Head were both ahead of Gaziev at the 150, but were overtaken on the final length. McKeen lowers his best time four-tenths to place 2nd in 1:35.56, and a big final push from Andrew Loy (23.83 coming home) saw him tie his Wildcat teammate Head for 3rd in 1:35.59.

Women’s 100 Breast Final

• Meet Record: 58.80, Jillian Tyler (MIN), 2008

1. Hanna Gresser, OSU, 59.88
2. Zoe Bartel, STAN, 1:00.19
3. Bailey Bonnett, UKY, 1:00.56

Buckeye sophomore Hanna Gresser was the one who managed to break a minute and clinch the win in the women’s 100 breast final, producing her 2nd-fastest swim ever and 2nd time sub-1:00 in 59.88. Her best time stands at 59.69 from the 2018 B1G Championships.

Cardinal freshman Zoe Bartel added .03 from this morning to end up 2nd in 1:00.19, while Kentucky’s Bailey Bonnett was 3rd in 1:00.56 for a new season-best. Last season Bonnett was almost a full second faster here (59.60).

Men’s 100 Breast Final

• Meet Record: 51.88, Caeleb Dressel (FLOR), 2015

1. Tristen DiSibio, WVU, 53.52
2. Jason Mathews, OSU, 53.89
3. Wyatt Amdor, UKY, 54.13

West Virginia’s Tristen DiSibio came out on top in the men’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 53.52, marking his fastest swim outside of the 2018 Big Tens (pair of 52.7s) and the 2018 OSU Last Chance Qualifier (pair of 53.4s). He edged out Buckeye freshman Jason Mathews, who tied his personal best of 53.89 set in December of 2017 for 2nd place.

Kentucky’s Wyatt Amdor added .02 from the morning to remain in 3rd in 54.13, while top seed John Fauteux of Pittsburgh added half a second and fell to 5th in 54.40.

Women’s 100 Back Final

• Meet Record: 50.73, Courtney Bartholomew (VIRG), 2013

1. Asia Seidt, UKY, 51.62
2. Taylor Ruck, STAN, 51.70
3. Carly Quast, ND, 52.61

Asia Seidt managed to beat out Taylor Ruck in the women’s 100 back, out-splitting the Stanford freshman by .06 on the opening 50 and .02 on the back half to win in a final time of 51.62. Seidt, who was 51.17 at this meet last year, was 51.25 this morning. That ranked her 2nd in the country at the time, but NC State’s Elise Haan was 51.24 tonight at the IU Invite to pass her.

Ruck swam a best of 51.78 this morning, and drops it down .08 more to place 2nd in 51.70. Notre Dame sophomore Carly Quast had her 2nd-fastest swim ever to take 3rd in 52.61, less than a tenth off last season’s NCAA invite time (52.54).

Men’s 100 Back Final

• Meet Record: 45.43, Jack Blyzinskyj (FLOR), 2015

1. Jack Montesi, ND, 47.61
2. Andrew Loy, OSU, 47.65
3. Henrique Painhas, OSU, 47.73

Notre Dame’s Jack Montesi dropped a best time in this morning’s 100 back with a time of 46.43, but was well off that tonight in 47.61 to barely clinch the win over OSU’s Andrew Loy (47.65) and Henrique Painhas (47.73).

The swim for Loy was a best time after breaking 48 for the first time this morning in 47.82.

Women’s 800 Free Relay Timed Final

• Meet Record: 6:55.54, Stanford, 2016

1. Stanford, 6:59.66
2. Kentucky, 7:03.69
3. Stanford ‘B’, 7:09.21

The Stanford women scorched a 6:59.66 to win the women’s 800 free relay, well under the Auto standard of 7:02.52.

Taylor Ruck led off in 1:44.72, faster than she was in the individual race this morning, and then Ella Eastin (1:44.96), Katie Drabot (1:46.08) and Brooke Forde (1:43.92) brought them home to crack 7:00.

Kentucky was 2nd in 7:03.69, with notable second and third legs from Asia Seidt (1:44.59) and Ali Galyer (1:45.25), and Stanford ‘B’ took 3rd in 7:09.21 with their fastest leg coming from freshman Lucie Nordmann (1:45.54) on the lead-off.

Men’s 800 Free Relay Timed Final

• Meet Record: 6:18.43, Florida, 2015

1. Notre Dame, 6:21.58
2. Pittsburgh, 6:26.34
3. Ohio State, 6:29.89

The Notre Dame men won the 800 free relay by close to five seconds in 6:21.58, getting under the NCAA provisional standard by a full second.

Zach Yeadon dropped over a second off his 200 best time on the opening leg, lowering his 1:36.12 from the 2018 ACCs down to 1:34.70, and then Sadler McKeen (1:35.67), Aaron Schultz (1:35.44) and Marci Barta (1:35.77) all had strong splits the rest of the way.

Pittsburgh took 2nd in 6:26.34, with their top split coming from Samy Helmbacher (1:35.73) on the third leg, and Ohio State (6:29.89) edged Kentucky (6:30.29) for 3rd, with Ruslan Gaziev anchoring them in 1:36.55.

TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

1. Stanford, 1755
2. Notre Dame, 1357.5
3. Ohio State, 1258
4. Kentucky, 1238
5. Yale, 819.5
6. Pittsburgh, 655.5
7. Ohio, 447.5
8. West Virginia, 392
9. Kenyon, 367
10. Kentucky Aquatics, 48

MEN

1. Ohio State, 1790.5
2. Notre Dame, 1494
3. Kentucky, 1276.5
4. Pittsburgh, 1065.5
5. Yale, 1042.5
6. West Virginia, 662
7. Kenyon, 405
8. Stanford, 101