The highlight of Saturday’s finals session belonged to Grant Betulius, who was just as good in the individual 100 back as he was in the 400 medley relay would only build Friday night.
Betulius hit an A cut with a 45.60, the number two time in the nation, in the event. His first 25 was a 10.59, a full second faster than anyone in the A final, and he would only build on the lead from there.
His first 50 was a 21.73, followed by a 23.87, which was better than most of the fields first 50 split. Betulius has finished as high as 11th at the NCAA Championships in the 100 back.
Chris Freeman of Iowa touched second in 48.78, followed by Anton Loncar in 49.02.
Sam Corea of Denver continued her strong performance with her second win of the evening for Denver. She also won the The senior touched at 52.39, a second ahead of her teammate Johanna Roas, who was 53.77 for the B cut.
Rowan Hauber touched third for Iowa with a 54.94, good for a B cut.
Zoe Huddleston touched fourth with a 55.41, for Denver, followed by Washington State’s Loree Olson in 55.67.
The men’s 100 breast also featured two times that were under the NCAA invite line from last season.
Zach Stephens of Notre Dame and Trussov of Iowa were the top two finishers in the 100 breaststroke, and the best swimmers in the event. Trussov finished second in with a 52.98, a new Iowa school record. Stephens was even better with a 52.54, just short of the 52.29 A cut.
Olson and Cameron Miller of Notre Dame, also had B cuts with their third and fourth place finishes. Olson touched in 54.65 while Miller was behind with a 55.37.
On the women’s side, Emma Sougstad added just .01 from her prelim time to take the title in 1:00.42. She was best swimmer in the field, by a body length, beating Denver’s Amanda Sanders, who took second in 1:01.24. Both swimmers had NCAA B cuts.
Frederike Hall was third for Washington State in 1:02.58. Colleen Champa was fourth for Iowa with a 1:03.37.
Team scores:
Men:
- Iowa: 634.5
- Notre Dame: 593
- Denver: 560.5
- Wisconsin Milwaukee: 184
Women:
- Iowa: 667.5
- Denver: 530
- Washington State: 425.5
- Wisconsin Milwaukee: 256
Full meet results are available here.
Women’s 200 medley relay:
Both the Iowa and Denver women beat the top seeded Washington State A relay. Denver was the winner with a 1:39.26 from Roas, Sanders, Corea and Drew Matthew. Iowa’s Mehgan Lavelle, Sougstad, Summer Campbell, and Olivia Kabacinksi took second in 1:40.99.
Washington State ‘s team of Loree Olson, Hall, Anna Brolin, and Hannah Bruggman was third in 1:41.32, a drop from their 1:42.52 seed, but not enough to hold off the teams on either side of them. The difference maker was Corea, who split a 23.39 on the fly leg, faster than both Campbell for Iowa and Brolin for Washington State, who were 25.00 and 24.22.
Men’s 200 medley relay
Iowa’s A relay was just .02 seconds off the NCAA B cut, touching in 1:26.60. Betulius, Trussov, Jerzy Twarowski, and Jackson Halsmer were 1:26.67, including a 19.67 anchor leg from Halsmer.
Notre Dame took second to the Hawkeyes with the team of Robby Whitacre, Cameron Miller, Stephens, and Justin Plaschka going 1:26.60. Stephens had the fastest fly split in the field with a 20.89.
Iowa’s C relay took third with a 1:29.81. Andrew Parker, Mike Nelson, RJ Hemmingsen, and Brandon Farnum made up the relay. Farnum split a 19.73 for the anchor leg.
Women’s 400 IM
Becky Stoughton led most of the race for Iowa but faded over the breaststroke and could not run down Denver’s Maddie Myers over the freestyle, despite out splitting her.
Stoughton finished second with a 4:18.31. a drop from her 4:20.58 in prelims. Myers continued with her strong meet by dropping four full seconds from this morning’s session to swim a 4:15.87. Both swimmers had B cuts.
Colleen Champa place third for Iowa with a 4:21.20, almost a six second drop from her 4:27.03 in the morning session.
Men’s 400 IM
Denver kept pace with Iowa with big points boost from their five swimmers in the A final. Jeremiah Zgliczynski beat the field by three seconds to take the top spot and the only B cut in the event in 3:51.81.
Tommy Anderson of Notre Dame was the next highest finisher in 3:54.84. Lane Bretschneider and Ben Severino were the third and fourth place finishers in 3:56.08 and 3:56.25. , respectively. Severino led through the fly, opening up in 51.96 to pace the field, but faded to fourth over the breaststroke.
Women’s 100 fly
Sam Corea has been fast all weekend and that continued in the women’s 100 fly. Corea won the fly by a body length. Corea was 52.83 and beat the field by over a second and a half.
Brolin, Alison Mand, and Haley Love finished second, third and fourth in 54.60, 55.15, and 55.22, respectively.
Men’s 100 fly
Iowa answered Denver’s 400 IM with a strong showing in the 100 fly, paced by Twarowski’s school record. Twarowski’s 46.70 broke the old mark of 47.05. Only a freshman, he was also on the 200 medley relay.
He was followed in by teammate Jackson Allen, who touched in 47.57. Notre Dame’s John Williamson was third in 47.78. Kyle Patnode was fourth for the Hawkeyes with a 48.27. The top four swimmers all secured B cuts.
Iowa also had Chris Freeman in fifth (48.50), Tyler Nichols in seventh (49.16), and RJ Hemmingsen in eighth (49.19). Andrew Torres placed sixth for Denver in 48.59.
Women’s 200 free
Kabacinski broke the Iowa and meet record she set that morning with a 1:46.68. Her seed time was 1:47.60.
She won by a three second margin and look every bit as dominant in finals as she did at prelims. Rachel Thompson finished second for the Hawkeyes in 1:49.80. Thompson tied with Serena Wanasek for second. Nicole Proulx finished fourth in for Washington State with a 1:50.83.
Men’s 200 free
Denver answered Iowa’s Butterfly performance with a sweep of the top three spots in the men’s 200. Ray Bornman’s 1:35.98 led the way for the Pioneers, while his teammates Luke Williams and Dylan Bunch, who won last night’s 500, were second and third in 1:37.63 and 1:37.96, respectively.
Iowa’s David Ernstsson and Notre Dame’s Kevin Hughes tied for fourth in 1:38.04.
Women’s 800 free relay
Matthew ran down the Hawkeyes anchor during the final leg of the women’s 800 free relay, erasing a 2.51 second deficit in the process. Nikole Lagodzinska’s 1:50.39 was not enough to hold off the hard charging Matthew’s 1:47.56. which was by far the fastest split in the field.
Iowa Stacked the relay early with Becky Stoughton and Kabacinski both splitting 1:48.6s. Wanasek split a 1:50.09 for the Hawkeyes Third Leg.
Denver posted a 7:17.46 behind Myers (1:50.92), Roas (1:48.40), Tyra Rooney (1:50.58), and Matthews (1:47.56). The Iowa team was second with a 7:17.78.Washington State’s team of Rachel Thompson, Nicole Proulx, Elise Locke, and Kendra Griffin, finished third with a 7:28.17.
Men’s 800 free relay
All four of Denver’s swimmers were under 1:38 as the Pioneers cruised to an easy victory in 6:29.48. Bornman (1:37.97), Willy Van Dehy (1:37.13), Dylan Bunch (1:37.66), and Luke Williams (1:36.72) combined to give Denver the victory in both the men’s and women’s relays.
Notre Dame was second in 6:34.27. Trent Jackson, Kevin Hughes, Reed Fujan, and Benjamin Jany comprised the relay for the Irish.
Iowa’s relay of Jackson Allen, Ernstsson, Freeman, and Kyle Gannon were third with a 6:35.96.
Competition Resumes with tomorrows prelims at 10 a.m central time.
