2023 Magnus Cup
- November 15-18, 2023
- Cleveland, Ohio
- SCY (25 yards)
- Day 2 Results & Day 3 Results
The Akron women and the Cleveland State men finished strong during the final session of the 2023 Magnus Cup, both ending the competition on top of the team scores. Both teams took an early lead on day one and continued to build upon their performances throughout the weekend.
Women’s Recap
The Akron women opened up night two in strong fashion, taking the 200 medley relay win in a time of 1:38.57. The Akron team was composed of Maddy Gatrall (24.84), Madeline Dyer (23.26), Abby Daniel (23.26), and Rebecca Reid (22.57). They just missed the meet record by 0.05, which is held by a different Akron quartet from 2017.
After contributing to the medley relay win, Junior Abby Daniel took two individual wins in the span of 25 minutes on Friday night. She started off by posting a time of 4:16.37 to take the 400 IM, before returning to the pool to win the 100 butterfly in 52.72.
Both of the wins by Daniel resulted in a new meet record, as she lowered the previous 400 IM mark (4:16.57) posted by Paloma Marrero in 2017. She took the 100 butterfly record down by 0.16 to narrowly slide under the mark Victoria Raymond of Tulane (52.86) put up in the prelims.
North Colorado junior Elizabeth Mayer posted a time of 1:47.86 en route to winning the 200 freestyle in a new meet record. This was a massive swim for Mayer, who before Friday owned a best time of 1:50.96 from February.
Leah Gentry-Tuney of Toledo and Maria Erokhina of Northern Colorado had a great race in the 100 breaststroke, touching just 0.20 apart at the finish. Gentry-Tuney, a freshman, clocked a 1:01.32 to take the win. That swim represents both a new best time and meet record. The two touched in a near tie at the 50-yard turn, with Erokhina touching in 28.81 to the 28.88 split by Gentry-Tuney. Gentry-Tuney closed on Erokhina in the final 15-yards to take the win. Erokhina would later secure the 200 breaststroke win on Saturday, finishing in 2:14.14.
Abby Daniel of Akron led a 1-2-3 for her team, stopping the clock in 54.21. Teammates Rebecca Reid (55.76) and Maddy Gatrall (56.47) rounded out the top 3. Daniel’s time of 54.21 lowered the previous meet record of 54.50 from 2017.
Daniel went on to win the 50 butterfly about 7 minutes later, posting a 24.09 in the process. She narrowly missed the meet record of 23.93 in that swim.
Weronika Gorecka of Akron swam to a time of 1:55.25 to win the 200 backstroke. Gorecka, who finished 13th in the event at NCAAs last March, owns a personal best of 1:52.43 in the event.
Florida Gulf Coast freshman Jasmin Kroll took the win in the 100 freestyle (49.53). Kroll and her FGCU teammates have had a big meet in Cleveland, recording 12 new Top-10 times in school history throughout the entirety of the weekend. They also swam faster at this meet in 3 of the 5 relays compared to the CCSA Conference Championships last February.
Other Highlights:
- Weronika Gorecka of Akron took the win in the 100 backstroke, stopping the clock in 53.00. She led a 1-2-3 sweep for Akron as Maddy Gatrall and Rebecca Raid placed 2nd and 3rd.
- The Akron quartet of Maddy Gatrall (1:50.85), Rebecca Reid (1:49.37), Weronika Gorecka (1:48.94), and Abby Daniel (1:49.64) touched first in the 800 freestyle relay, recording a final time of 7:18.80.
- Northern Colorado freshman Kyra Rabess touched 1st in the 1650 freestyle (16:47.67).
- Maddy Gatrall of Akron stopped the clock in 24.82 to take the 50 backstroke win.
- Victoria Raymond of Tulane clocked 1:58.48 to touch 1st in the 200 butterfly. Her time not only represents a personal best time, but a meet record as well. This was the 2nd meet record for Raymond at this meet.
- The foursome of Rebecca Reid (50.23), Weronika Gorecka (49.44), Maddy Gatrall (49.66), and Abby Daniel (49.71) took the 400 freestyle relay win for Akron (3:19.04).
Final Team Scores (Women):
- Akron – 1571 points
- Florida Gulf Coast – 1052 points
- Northern Colorado – 922 points
- Tulane – 910 points
- Toledo – 813 points
- Bowling Green – 734.5 points
- Xavier – 550.5 points
- Cleveland State – 316 points
- Niagara – 280.5 points
- IU of PA – 72.5 points
- Canisius – 41 points
- Gannon – 27 points
Men’s Recap
Cleveland State took down their meet record from 2015 by 0.04 on Friday night, winning in 1:28.37. The team of Paddy Johnston (22.03), Tyler Schultze (24.67), Kenny Thomas (21.69), and Josh Merchbaker (19.98) led from start to finish.
Cleveland State went on to win the next two events after their record setting relay performance, as Jackson Nester took the 400 IM win (3:49.13) and Paddy Johnston touched 1st in the 100 butterfly (47.43). The swim from Nester crushed his own meet record of 3:53.08, which he set last year, by nearly four seconds.
The 100 breaststroke was a tightly contested race, as Tyler Schultze of Cleveland State (54.23) narrowly took the win over Thanos Diaminditis (54.25). While Schultze just missed the meet record of 54.17 from 2015, it does register a new best time for the sophomore.
The same two swimmers would go on to face a similar battle in the 200 breaststroke, as Schultze got the touch again (1:57.21) over Diamantidis (1:57.37). Notably, both undercut the previous meet record of 1:58.71, which Diamantidis recorded to win last year.
The 1650 was a tight race from start to finish, with the top three being separated by less than four seconds at the end of the race. Luke Peterson of Xavier took the win in 15:59.80, a bit shy of his best time of 15:34.66 from this past December. A pair of Cleveland swimmers took 2nd and 3rd, as Jake Taulbee touched in 16:02.08 and Tanner Beck finished in 16:03.57.
Junior Jackson Nester of Cleveland State took an early lead in the 200 backstroke and never looked back. He finished in a time of 1:45.40 to take the win, coming within a second of his best time (1:44.58) from the 2023 Horizon League Championships. Marlin de Villard of Canisius touched 2nd and Alexander Roth finished 3rd. De Villard would later win the 50 backstroke (23.22), touching out Matt Fralic of Xavier.
Cleveland State junior Paddy Johnston had a big swim to win the 100 freestyle. He stopped the clock in a time of 43.61, taking down the meet record of 44.04 from 2016. His record performance also improved upon his personal best of 43.92 from nearly two years ago.
The quartet of Kenny Thomas (45.09), Daniel Lyngaas (44.38), Connor Green (45.72), and Paddy Johnston (43.59) ended the meet strong for Cleveland State, winning the 400 freestyle relay in 2:58.78.
Other Highlights:
- Luke Peterson of Xavier took the 200 freestyle win in a time of 1:39.12. That checks in just shy of his 1:38.93 best time from February.
- Cleveland went 1-2 in the men 100 backstroke as senior Kenny Thomas (49.10) out-touched teammate Dogukan Tombul (49.17).
- Cleveland State won the 800 freestyle relay by nearly 10 seconds, as Paddy Johnston (1:37.59), Daniel Lyngaas (1:37.58), Jackson Nester (1:38.52), and Connor Green (1:41.02) teamed up to swim a time of 6:34.71.
- Junior Josh Merchbaker of Cleveland State took the 100 IM win (50.99), narrowly missing the 50.74 meet record from 2018.
- Justin Decheck of Gannon took the 50 butterfly win (22.44).
- Aiden Leamer of Xavier placed 1st in the 200 butterfly (1:46.39), missing the meet record by 0.09.
Final Team Scores (Men):
- Cleveland State – 1663 points
- Xavier – 1418 points
- Gannon – 956 points
- Niagara – 810.5 points
- Canisius – 602 points
- IU of PA – 476.5 points
