2022 OC Intrasquad
- Friday, September 9, 2022
- Edmond, Oklahoma
- Edmond YMCA Recreation and Aquatic Center
- SCY (25 yards)
- Full Results
Courtesy: Oklahoma Christian Athletics
Last Friday, the Oklahoma Christian Eagles competed in their annual Maroon vs. Gray Intrasquad meet, and the most highly anticipated meet of the year did not disappoint. This meet has been held for the last four years and Gray has an unblemished 4-0 record and Maroon was on a mission to change history. With bragging rights and the Eagle-topped trophy on the line, the Maroon and Gray meet got underway. Below is an event-by-event recap of the meet.
Mixed 200 Yard Medley Relay: Maroon got off to a hot start in the Mixed 200 Medley Relay shattering the meet record by over 2 seconds in a time of 1:37.67. The quartet of Vivian Pitsch (27.00), Felix Berling (24.84), Kara Boemio (25.54), and Dereck Montgomery (20.29) touched the wall first by nearly 2 seconds in front of Gray who had a charging Brandon Heredia (19.80) anchoring with the fastest split of the night.
200 Freestyle: The women’s race was a battle between seniors Kayci McKinnon and Cheyenne Parks. Parks, a 2022 NCAA All-American in the 200 Backstroke, closed hard the last 50 splitting 29.12, but it was not enough to hold off McKinnon who opened the race fast and held the lead wire-to-wire. McKinnon touched the wall in a meet record of 1:54.30 with Parks a fingernail behind in 1:54.35. In the men’s race, sophomore Victor Rosado left nothing up to question, absolutely dominating the field touching the wall in 1:38.81.
100 Backstroke: Vivian Pitsch took down the meet record in the Women’s 100 Back in a time of 58.61. Pitsch is the current school record in the event and looks to capitalize on a successful freshman season this year. On the men’s side, senior and Gray Team Captain, Reese McIlroy broke a 3-year-old record in a time of 50.65, by holding off freshman Noah Rabb who was just .26 behind in a time of 50.91.
100 Breaststroke: Two more events, two more broken records. Freshman Hailey Uhrig took down the meet record in a time of 1:07.80 and for the men’s race JT Amrein broke his own meet record touching the wall in 54.90. Amrein is the reigning national champion in the 200 Breaststroke and hopes to continue that success into the 2022-23 season.
50 Butterfly: Freshman Kara Boemio jumped in and made an immediate impact for the Maroon team winning the 50 fly by over a second in a meet record of 26.01. On the men’s side, senior butterfly Elijah Tung missed out on the meet record by .09, but his 22.83 was more than enough to take the gold and points for Gray Team.
50 Freestyle: In the fastest race of the day, seniors Olivia Rollen (24.35) and Brandon Heredia (20.41) shined to take the wins and meet records for the Gray team. Also notable, former NCAA All-American at Indiana and multi-time Egyptian Olympian, Ali Khalafalla raced to a 20.03 just narrowly missing the 20-second barrier.
100 Freestyle: After a short 15-minute break, the sprinters dove back in for more action in the 100 free. On the women’s side, sophomore Laura Byars swam to victory in a time of 53.84 with junior transfer Paulina Ruelas charging close behind touching the wall in 54.10. Brandon Heredia and Dereck Montgomery battled stroke-for-stroke the entire race, but Heredia touched the wall in a meet record of 44.86 with Montgomery on his hip touching right at 45.00.
50 Backstroke: Vivian Pitsch (27.33) and Reese McIlroy (23.65) completed the backstroke sweeps in this one, outracing Julia Flores (28.16) and Noah Rab (23.74) respectively. For senior Reese McIlroy, 23.64 was his lifetime best by nearly .2 seconds.
50 Breaststroke: Just like we saw in the backstrokes, Hailey Uhrig and JT Amrein got out the brooms to complete the sweeps in the 50 breaststroke as well. Uhrig broke the meet record in a time of 30.74 while Amrein won the men’s race in a time of 25.18. OC Graduate Assistant and former All-American breaststroker from Oklahoma Baptist, Juliana Cifuentes Cepeda actually won the race in a time of 29.41 just to keep the college kids honest.
500 Freestyle: On the women’s side, 500 freestyle school record holder, Kayci McKinnon won the race by over five seconds in a time of 5:11.08. In the men’s race sophomore Victor Rosado took the race in a time of 4:28.66 in one of the most impressive swims of the night. Rosado finished second at the DII NCAA Championships this past March in a time of 4:23.11.
100 Butterfly: The trend continued with the stroke sweeps in the 100 butterfly when Kara Boemio and Elijah Tung annihilated both meet records with time of 57.14 and 49.33 respectively.
100 IM: The IM events saved the day for Maroon as they were down by more than 15 points going into the women’s event. First, Paulina Ruelas got her first win of the night by touching the wall in a time of 1:00.00. For Ruelas that time marked a new meet record, yet slightly bittersweet as she was a hundredth short of breaking the 1-minute barrier. In the men’s race, sophomore Quinn Mauck charged hard the first 50, but classmate Lorenzo Tabladini had a lot left in the tank and dominated the second 50 touching the wall in a time of 54.19.
200 Mixed Freestyle Relay: Maroon went into the last event with a slight lead, which meant that whichever team won the final event would take home the trophy. Maroon led the race wire-to-wire and won in a new meet record of 1:29.50. Dereck Montgomery led off in a lifetime best of 20.73 followed by McKinnon (24.45), Byars (24.21), and Berling (20.11).
The Gray reign is over and Maroon will get their name on the trophy for the first time in school history.
Victor Rosado 😳