The final day of the TYR Invitational in Evanston, Illinois featured some more fast swimming and impressive diving as the Wildcat men and women both secured overall invitational victories. The session began with the women’s 1650 free, and Northwestern freshman Lauren Abruzzo continued her hot streak by taking the event in a new pool record and school record time of 16:10.40. This cut 17.5 seconds off the old pool record held by Northwestern alum Kassia Shishkoff when she went 16:28.01 back in 2007, and is also one of the top 10 fastest times in the country so far this season. In the process, Abruzzo also knocked about a half second off the old school record of 16:10.92 which had been held by Ellen Grigg since 2009. Missouri State’s Suzanne Van Rensburg took 2nd in 16:47.14 while NU sophomore Ellen Anderson took third in 16:49.32.
The women’s 50 fly was a nail-biter as Michigan State’s Sarah Love beat UIC’s Danel Voorhees by the slimmest margins as she won 25.29-25.30. Bowling Green’s Joelle Scheps took third in 25.42. In the men’s race, Northwestern’s Mark Ferguson won his first individual race of the weekend with his 21.82 winning effort, while Missouri State’s Vitalii Baryshok (22.05) and Michigan State’s Jacob Moore (22.15) followed for 2nd and 3rd.
Northwestern freshman Lacey Locke won her second backstroke event of the meet with a win in the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:57.67, which was also a NCAA ‘B’ cut by a second-and-a-half. In second was her teammate Karen Turner (1:59.49) and Northwestern completed the 1-2-3-4-5 sweep as Melissa Postoll (2:01.49), Erin Sosdian (2:02.16), and Madeleine Klichowski (2:02.28) grabbed the next three spots.
Paul Le of Missouri State came off his dominant 100 backstroke swim yesterday to capture the 200 backstroke event title today in a winning time of 1:43.42. This swim puts him in the top 10 in the country for the season, and he was about 2.5 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Andrew Jovanovic from Northwestern as he finished the race in 1:45.94. Finishing third was NU’s Grant Halsall in a 1:48.54.
The women’s 100 freestyle saw Bowling Green’s Victoria Griffin break the 50 second barrier as she won the event in 49.87. This was about two-tenths off the pool record of 49.65 by Mizzou’s Shara Stafford last year, but she had about a half-second cushion over the rest of the field as MSU’s Summer Strickler (50.36) and NU’s Jackie Powell (51.26) took 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the men’s race, Northwestern’s Chase Stephens came off his victories in the 50 and 200 freestyles to win in a 44.32. He outpaced Missouri State’s Baryshok (44.79) and Michigan State’s Pat Falconer (44.89) who took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Next came the men’s 1650 free, where Northwestern’s Jordan Wilimovsky, a member of the 2013 Open Water Worlds Team, absolutely dominated in the second-best time in the country of 14:55.25. This cut 15.5 seconds off his own pool record from last year (15:10.75), and he also broke his own school record of 14:58.80 from last year’s NCAA Championships. Though he did not achieve the automatic standard of 14:47.19, it took a 15:03 last year to make NCAAs so it is looking like the sophomore may have already secured a fast enough time to qualify for the big meet next March. He was 25 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, Miguel Davila from Missouri State (15:20.18), and Michigan State’s Jon Burke took third in 15:32.88.
The women’s 200 breaststroke went to Missouri State’s Renata Sander who won in a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 2:15.01. In second was Bowling Green’s Danielle Carrillo (2:16.22) and Northwestern’s Megan Goss was third in 2:18.48. In the men’s race, Isaac Springer of Missouri State won the event in a 1:58.44, while NU’s Van Donkersgoed (1:59.32) and Michigan State’s Alec Kandt (2:00.65) took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Both Locke and Le completed a sweep of the backstroke events in the women’s and men’s races respectively as Locke won the 50 back in a 25.84 which was good enough to best 2nd placed Hannah Nicks (Truman State, 26.68) and 3rd placed Janke Engelbrecht (26.80). Le won in a 22.42 and he just edged NU’s Ferguson (22.56) and Jovanovic (22.93).
The final indvidual event of the meet was the 200 butterfly, and Missouri State’s Dora Kiss won her first individual event of the meet with a 2:01.44 winning time. In second was NU’s Ellen Stello (2:02.21) and Michigan State’s Elizabeth Brown took third in 2:02.52. In the men’s race, Michigan State’s Bryan Williams completed his 100/200 double by winning the event in a 1:48.23. Missouri State’s Matthew Wilson (1:48.71) and UIC’s Kei Ishimaru (1:49.26) took 2nd and 3rd respectively.
In the final relay of the meet, Northwestern emerged triumphant on both the men’s and women’s ends as Powell (51.58), Lacey Smith (50.44), Locke (51.38), and Annika Winsnes (50.29) combined to win the women’s race in 3:23.69 while Jovanovic (44.29), Stephens (43.62), Dominik Cubelic (44.54), and Charlie Cole (44.96) won the men’s race in 2:57.41. Bowling Green took 2nd (3:25.33) and MSU took 3rd (3:26.90) in the women’s race, while Missouri State (2:58.30) and Michigan State (3:00.33) took 2nd and 3rd respectively in the men’s race.
In platform diving, Northwestern was the only team to field divers in the women’s event, and senior Cosima Lenz (215.85 points) took the event while her teammates Mary Kate Campbell (181.20) and Caroline Grant (177.60) rounded out the top 3. For the men, Northwestern took the top 3 again as Andrew Cramer (283.95), Nick Pinkerton (268.05), and John Andrade (228.60) swept the top 3 spots.
Final standings:
Women – Team Rankings – Through Event 47
1. Northwestern University 1066
2. Michigan State University 657
3. Missouri State 583
4. Bowling Green State Univ. 582
5. University of Illinois- Chicag 385
6. Truman State University 252
7. University of North Dakota 251
8. Kenyon College 199
9. University of Northern Iowa 29
Men – Team Rankings – Through Event 48
1. Northwestern University 1054.5
2. Michigan State University 904.5
3. Missouri State 876.5
4. University of Illinois- Chicag 370.5
5. Kenyon College 322.5
6. University of North Dakota 273.5
7. Truman State University 122
Complete Results can be found here
