Colorado Jumps Out to Lead After Day 1 of 2013 Collegiate Club Championships

Patrick Chai is the Meet Director for the 2013 East Coast Collegiate Swim & Dive Club National Championship meet. He will be running the meet at Georgia Tech, the 10th time the school has hosted the event, and he put together this fantastic preview below. To follow the meet online, check out the official ECC Nationals Twitter page, their Facebook page, or the official meet website.

ATLANTA – The defending national champions Colorado wasted no time in asserting their desire for a third straight title during the 1^st evening of competition at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The Buffalos jumped out to a lead of almost 200 points led by seniors Mattie Noble and Toshi Hirabayashi.

800 Free Relay – The Colorado women rewrote their own ECC Meet record and held up the late charge by Florida’s Sarah Bateman to take home the gold with a finish time of 8:01.28. Bateman’s relay split was 1:50.67 to anchor the runners-up in 8:04.66. Florida returned the favor in the men’s 800 Free, out touching the Buffalos with a final time of 7:01.87.

400IM – Colorado senior Mattie Noble erased her own meet record and dominated the 400 IM race with a final time of 4:45.06, while teammate Zoe Gossett finished in silver medal position, touching the wall at 4:54.52. Florida’s Nikki Hinojosa completes the podium with a final time of 4:59.56. On the men side, Florida’s Will Walter (4:10.42) dominated the race from beginning to end, finishing seven seconds ahead of North Carolina State’s Zack Goodman, and nine seconds ahead of Colorado’s Alex Rejvani.

200 Back –James Madison’s Sierra Higinbotham wins the 200 Back with a time of 2:15.16, while Georgia’s Beatriz Maliszewski (2:16.33) claims the silver and East Carolina’s Erin Mahoney (2:16.57) claims the bronze. This is the only event of the evening that neither Colorado nor Florida finished in the top 3. Men’s back stroke gold went to Colorado’s Bryan Bonack (1:52.87), while Florida’s Jeff Reardon (1:55.46) and Missouri’s Andrew Tamachyna (1:57.17) rounds up the top 3.

200 Fly – The “Big Three” (Colorado, Florida, Missouri) claimed all of the hardware from the 200 fly event. Colorado’s Zoe Gossett took home her second individual medal, this time a gold (2:14.18) to go with her sliver from the 400IM. Florida’s Nikki Hinojosa also takes home her second individual medal, but loses to Zoe for the second straight race. Missouri’s Kate Walker rounded out the top three. Florida’s men took home both gold and sliver as Will Walter (1:53.40) and Kristof Kertesz (1:54.11) finished 1-2 for the Gators with both going under the previous meet record. Colordo’s Tomas Jamieson-Lucy (1:56.42) takes the bronze medal.

200 Breast – Whitney Fletcher (2:27.27) claims another gold for the Buffaloes, while Maria Bartolotta (2:28.71) claims the first individual medal for Connecticut. Missouri’s Mary Sheahen (2:29.53) just out touches Colorado’s Mattie Noble to claim the bronze medal. On the men’s side, Penn State’s Andrew Smiddy broke the ECC Meet record with a final time of 2:04.94, while UF’s Kertesz (2:09.75) took home his second individual silver medal, and Doug Parker touches the wall at 2:11.92 to claim the bronze.

500 Free – Colorado captain Katie Booth won her first gold medal of 2013 with a final time of 5:21.09, while UConn’s Bailey Muchin (5:23.27) and Northeastern’s Stephanie Gee (5:25.29 just out touched Penn State’s Sarah Kaneshiki to fill the rest of the podium.  Colorado’s Toshi Hirabayashi (4:45.26), Virginia’s Virk Verheul (4:47.06), and West Virginia’s Jermey Wilson (4:52.93) all claimed their first individual medals of 2013.

400 Medley Relay – Florida’s relay team put on a show in the final event of the evening. That began with the impressive swim by Sarah Bateman in the women’s race, who chased down Colorado’s Katie Booth with a blistering 49.14 (22.97 split halfway) to take the gold medal away from the Buffaloes. The Gators set a new meet record with a final time of 4:03.31, while Colorado finished second at 4:08.39, and Mizzou claims the bronze with a 4:15.37. The men’s relay was a little closer; UF lead the whole way, and CU’s team could not chase down the Gators. Florida fell short of their goal of breaking the meet record, finishing with a 3:29.21, while CU finished second at 3:20.21, and Penn State claimed their first relay medal with a bronze finish of 3:33.58.

Standing – Colorado’s women enjoy a comfortable lead over second place Florida, but the men’s race is wide open. Can Colorado use the advantage on the women side to claim an overall team title? Or can Florida bridge the gap and steal the title away? Stay tuned for an exciting second day of the 2013 East Coast Collegiate Swim & Dive Club National Championships.

Overall Top 5

Colorado – 612
Florida – 414
Missouri – 275
Connecticut – 244
Penn State – 205

Men Top 5

Colorado – 330
Florida – 276
NC State – 162
Missouri – 157
Penn State – 131

Women Top 5

Colorado – 326
Florida – 188
Connecticut – 161
Missouri – 154
James Madison – 116

Swimming Live Results: http://www.ramblinwreck.com/livestats/c-swim/
Diving Live Results: https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/index.php#