Battle At The Burr III: Georgetown vs. Howard
- October 5, 2024
- Washington D.C
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Scores:
- Women: Georgetown, 133 – Howard, 90
- Men: Georgetown, 117 – Howard, 107
- Full Results
The third edition of the Battle At The Burr—the meet that reinvigorated college dual meets00took place in front of a crowd of over 1000 fans packed into the Burr Gym Pool. The event sold out its regular tickets in minutes and brought in more special guests this year, including Olympians Simone Manuel and Maritza McClendon.
The DJ got the pool loud, but it was the fans who really brought the noise and electrified the building as the Bison and the Hoyas battled it out through each event.
Georgetown won both the women’s and men’s meet, but there were highlights throughout the day for the Bison as well.
Women’s Meet
The women kicked off the meet with an incredible race in the 200 medley relay, which ended up being one of the closest races of the day. Georgetown’s Maddie Haley, Angelica Reali, Viv Youngman, and Natalie Aiken edged out Howard’s Chanice Posada, Zaylie Thompson, Samyra Beniot, and Zuzu Nwaeze by two-hundredths, clocking 1:43.35.
The Hoyas built on the lead winning the medley relay gave them in the next event, going 1-2 in the 1000 free with Ashley Venel (10:53.01) and Payton Smith (10:56.76).
Nwaeze, a 2x 2024 NEC champion, struck back in the 200 freestyle, swimming 1:53.91 to give the Bison women their first event win of the meet. After Gabrielle Vickles and Kelsey Roberson went 2-3 for Howard behind freshman Aiken’s 50 freestyle win for the Hoyas (24.54), the Bison earned another win, this time with Thompson pulling away for victory in the 200 IM and the fourth-fastest time in program history (2:07.79). Thompson, a senior, found her way into the program’s all-time lists in the 100 breast as well, winning in 1:06.09 and climbing to sixth in school history.
Even as the victories piled up for Howard (Chanice Posada gave them another in the 100 back in 58.44), Georgetown’s depth was too much for the Bison to overcome in the overall meet score. The Hoyas earned 1-2 finishes in four events, including a 1-2-3 sweep of the 1-meter board and the 100 butterfly. Howard had a single 1-2 finish, courtesy of Jasmine Morgan and Vickles in the 100 freestyle.
Senior Genevieve Youngman led the way in the 100 butterfly, clocking 56.41 to lead Reali, the 2023 Big East 100 fly (57.15), and sophomore Cali Oyerly (58.26). On the boards, Cecilia Hanuch took first with 249 points, ahead of Wynter Bramao (240.20) and Audrey Dietz (233.75).
In a race almost as close as the opening relay, the Georgetown women finished their meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay. It was a tight race from the start; the teams were separated by a hundredth after Aiken and Nwaeze led off in 24.10 and 24.11. The Bison grabbed a lead in the middle 100 thanks to Morgan and Vickles, holding a three-hundredths advantage over the Hoyas heading into the final 50 yards Madeline Malone anchored Georgetown in 24.36; she stopped the clock at 1:37.18, four-hundredths ahead of Howard.
Men’s Meet
The Howard men gave the home crowd a win to cheer about in their very first event. Tristan Stevens (23.16), Darin Johnson (25.58), Kris Lawson (21.38), and Taj Benton (20.91) swam 1:31.03 for the victory in the 200 medley relay, .49 seconds ahead of Georgetown.
Like the Georgetown women though, the Hoya men rolled through the 1000 free and 1-meter diving. Led by Wilson Tunila (9:49.78) in the 1000 free, Georgetown went 1-2-3 as Ronan Krauss and Bruno Ribeiro touched second and third. The distance events were a particular strength for the Georgetown men at this meet as they also took the top two spots in the 500 free with Jack Januario (4:42.70) and Ben Tunila.
Owen Watkins won the 50 freestyle for Georgetown (21.10) ahead of a Howard 2-3 finish from Lawon (21.36) and Tai Afrik (21.93). But the Bison denied the Hoyas a freestyle sweep by winning the 100 and 200 freestyle. As with the Howard women, the 100 freestyle was the Bison men’s lone 1-2 finish on the day. Mason Green won both events for Howard. He swam 1:42.53 in the 200, winning the event by two seconds. Then, he clocked 47.05 for the 100 free victory, with Afrik joining him sub-48 in 47.78.
With the 100 fly, 100 free, and 100 back all in a row, Howard went on a three-event win streak. Sandwiching Green’s 100 free win, Benton and Stevens picked up wins in the 100 fly and 100 back. Benton, who finished second in the 100 fly at the 2024 NEC Championships, clocked 50.56 to win as the sole athlete sub-51 seconds. Stevens—also the runner-up from 2024 NECs—swam 51.57, winning the 100 back by 1.56 seconds.
Stephen Kim won two events for Georgetown. First, the senior and 2023 Big East 200 breast champion, won the 200 IM in 1:56.28, using a strong back half to out-touch Howard’s Erald Thompson. Then, Kim came from behind to win the 100 breast in 57.22.
In a thrilling finish to the meet, Howard edged out Georgetown in the 200 free relay by .11 seconds. Lawson, Stevens, Afrik split 20.96, 20.96, and 20.95, giving Benton the lead heading into the final leg. Benton split 20.49, holding off Watkins’ 20.07 anchor, taking the win in 1:23.36 ahead of Georgetown’s 1:23.47.
Up Next
Howard travels to the NJIT Invitational from Oct. 11-12. Georgetown faces another D.C rival on Oct. 11, when they head up to American University.
Kudos to Kyle Sockwell for elevating the popularity of dual meets through social media and his “Dual Meet Tour.” This was his second planned stop (his first stop was postponed). Clearly, his efforts are working. Everyone toss him a follow on IG: @kylesockwell
This is the third straight year this meet has sold out. Kyle had nothing to do with the first two.
Kyle is not the reason for this meet’s success. It was well-established before his attendance. However, the lack of any mention of his involvement at the meet is interesting. That is all.
Kyle is not the reason for this meet’s success. It was well-established before his attendance. However, the lack of any mention of his involvement at the meet is interesting. That is all.
This one was all Nic Askew (Howard HC) and Jack Leavitt (Georgetown HC)
What they’ve built over the last few years is nothing short of incredible and proves that other programs could be, and should be, trying a whole hell of a lot harder to do something similar.
I always appreciate a shoutout for the work I’m trying to do, but this shoutout should be directed at these two disrupting coaches in a sport that could use some disruption.
this is a stupid, stupid gripe. BUT. we need to talk about how swimswam uses “sweeps” in headlines! Winning both duals is simply not what that word means…
Sure it does. Everyone I know seems to agree with it – aside from the team that got swept.
Nobody cares, swim faster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewash_(sport) a sweep would be winning every event. words…mean things…
Yeah. It’s taken a few years, but I’ve finally gotten to the point where I instantly know they are talking about winning the men’s and women’s meets rather than initially thinking that the team swept all of the events.