Denison Invitational
- Nov. 29 – Dec. 1, 2018
- Results
Courtesy: Denison Athletics
GRANVILLE, Ohio– Top-ranked Denison men’s swimming and diving walked away from the 2018 Denison Invitational with the team championship. The Big Red totaled 2,936 points to win the event by 1,064 points over second-place, Emory University. Third place went to Washington University-St. Louis with 1,530 points. Fourth-place belonged to Division II Wayne State at 1,403 points and Thomas More placed fifth with 193 points.
The Big Red racked up 19 more NCAA ‘B’ cut times on Saturday to go along with four event titles. Denison’s distance free depth was on full display in the 1,650 free as Matt Hedman broke his own pool record with a time of 15.18.98. First-year Lukas Gately placed third and he did it out of the B-Final as he won the heat with a ‘B’ cut time of 15:38.64. James Baker checked in fourth at 15:44.13. Dayen Wilson (15:53.77) and Jackson Berman (16:10.16) placed eighth and 10th, respectively. Baker, Wilson, and Berman all posted provisional qualifying times.
Another pool record fell in the 200 butterfly as five-time All-American and last year’s third-place finisher in the 200 fly Mitch Williams won the event with a personal best time of 1:46.65. Noah Houskeeper followed in fourth at 1:49.87. He posted a career-best ‘B’ cut time of 1:49.17 in prelims. Matt Reed and Kymani Senior finished in fifth and ninth place respectively. Both logged ‘B’ cuts in prelims as Reed touched in 1:50.14 and Senior posted 1:50.66.
The 2018 NCAA Division III national champion in the 200 backstroke, Bebe Wang, set a new pool record with a winning time of 1:45.47. John Stauffer improved his ‘B’ cut time by 0.48 seconds after touching sixth in 1:49.17. Nick Froemming posted a 1:49.18 ‘B’ cut in prelims and finished seventh in the finals. In the B-Final, Samuel Jo placed 10th (1:49.81) and Chas Sigloh was 13th (1:51.65).
In the 100 freestyle, Denison placed 10 swimmers in the top-18 led by Drake Horton‘s third-place finish in 44.88. In prelims, Matt McHugh and Senior both posted ‘B’ cut times of 45.00. They went on to place sixth and ninth in the finals, respectively.
Three more provisional qualifying times were logged in the 200 breaststroke, led by Richie Kurlich‘s time of 2:00.44 that landed him in second place. Tiernan Foster Smith was fifth in 2:02.67 and Ryan Stevenson place ninth in 2:04.04.
On the 3-meter dive, Liam Simmons placed second with a six-dive score of 216.65. Brendan Downey placed fourth with a score of 169.10.
The Big Red capped off the three-day invitational with a resounding victory in the 400 free relay as McHugh, Wang, Horton, and Gerlach touched in 2:57.52.
Denison was led in scoring by Senior who finished with 103.5 points over the course of the three-day meet.
The Big Red women’s swimming & diving team entered the 2018 Denison Invitational as the top-ranked team in Division III and after three days of stellar performances that national ranking was verified. The Big Red won the Invitational with 2,479 team points. Division I Eastern Michigan placed second with 2,046 and Emory University checked in third with 1,704 points. Division II Wayne State placed fourth (1,263) followed by Washington-St. Louis (1,043), Ohio State (113) and Thomas More (51).
One pool record fell on Saturday night as KT Kustritz posted a rock solid ‘B’ cut time of 2:13.72 to win the 200 breaststroke. Kate Mesaros finished fifth after a season-best ‘B’ cut of 2:17.91 in preliminaries. Natalie Zaravella made her cut in prelims at 2:21.09 and out of the B-Final, Olivia Lantry notched a cut after a time of 2:21.70.
In the 1,650 freestyle, Hannah Rusinko paced Denison with a fourth-place finish and a time of 17:09.75. Zaravella touched fifth in 17:16.04 while Caroline Colville placed sixth (17:20.65) and Grace Kacmarek finished eighth in 17:30.61. All four times were ‘B’ cuts. Finishing just outside the provisional qualifying standard was first-year Megan Balbo who touched ninth with a time of 17:35.03.
Zoe Whelan led a crew of seven Denison swimmers who posted top-16 finishes in the 200 butterfly. Whelan placed fifth after posting a 2:03.30 ‘B’ cut in prelims. She returned with a time of 2:05.23 in the finals. Colville placed seventh in 2:08.31 and Becca Taylor finished ninth in 2:14.35.
In the 100 freestyle, Mia Chiappe placed fourth with a ‘B’ cut time of 51.41. Maddie Hopkins touched in 51.75 in prelims for her ‘B’ cut. She returned to finish seventh in the finals with a time of 51.84.
Erica Hsu turned in a ‘B’ cut in the 200 backstroke after a fifth-place finish and time of 2:03.13. Bridget Horton (2:05.36), Sydney Lenz (2:07.13) and Devin Javens (2:08.02) rounded out the event in 13th, 16th, and 18th place, respectively.
Four Big Red divers competed on the 3-meter board led by Allison Fitzgerald who placed eighth with a six-dive score of 236.20. Emma Weber followed in ninth place with a score of 232.50. Naomi Clayton finished 11th at 213.05 and Mattie Stauss checked in 12th at 190.00.
The meet was wrapped up by a third-place performance in the 400 free relay by Chiappe, Hopkins, Sophia Gaguzis and KT Kustritz. The foursome combined for a time of 3:26.81 which is a season-best ‘B’ cut for the Big Red.
Zaravella led Denison with 113 points across the three-day meet. In five events, Zaravella placed second in the 200 IM (2:03.79), third in the 400 IM (4:21.74), fifth in the 1,650 free (17:16.04), ninth in the 200 breast (2:23.37) and was a part of the third-place 800 free relay. Kustritz totaled 105 points and Colville followed with 103.
Courtesy: Emory Athletics
The Emory University Swimming and Diving teams finished competition at the Denison University Invitational on Saturday, winning three more events and tallying 11 NCAA B Cuts on the final day of action.
Through three days, the Eagles claimed six event wins, 40 NCAA B Cuts and one school record to place second at the three-day meet with 1,872 points, trailing only first-place Denison which scored 2,936 points at the meet.
On Saturday, Emory event wins in three individual events as freshmen Lucas Bumgarner, senior Trey Kolleck and freshman Jason Hamilton collected wins for the Eagles. In the 3-meter dive, Bumgarner wrapped up his diving sweep with his winning score of 275.95. In the swimming events, Kolleck took top honors in the 100 Freestyle with a qualifying time of 44.09 (43.81 in prelims) and Hamilton was first in the 200 Breaststroke with a NCAA B Cut of 1:59.59.
A day after setting the school record in the 400 IM, freshman Zach Lorson shined in two more events for the Eagles, finishing second in the 1,650 Freestyle (15:33.55) and sixth in the 200 Breast (2:02.76). Classmate Sean Byman added a NCAA B cut in the 1650 Free, finishing 11th at 16:15.61 and in the 200 Breast, fellow freshmen Jack Kelleher (11th-2:02.85) and Ethan Sternberg (12th-2:03.97) joined Lorson in recording NCAA qualifying times.
Emory saw three more individual and one relay NCAA B cuts posted on Saturday with senior Matt Rogers throwing down a 1:46.83 to take fourth in the 200 Back while classmate Zachary Chen touched at 1:48.75 in the event prelims. In the 100 Freestyle, freshman Colin LaFave finished seventh in a time of 45.34 and junior Sage Ono was eighth in the finals but recorded a NCAA B cut in prelims with a time of 45.11. Ono, LaFave, Rogers and Kolleck rounded out the event with a second place finish in the 400 Freestyle Relay, touching with a time of 2:57.66.
The Emory University Swimming and Diving team recorded three more event wins and 13 NCAA B Cuts as the Denison University Invitational came to a close Saturday night in Granville, Ohio.
Over the course of three-day meet, the Eagles registered eight event wins and 36 NCAA B Cut times while finishing third in the team standings with 1,704 points, trailing only Dension (2,479) and Eastern Michigan (2,046).
Senior Fiona Muir and junior Maria Turcanu claimed individual event wins for the Eagles on the evening with the group of Muir, seniors Hannah Lally, Meg Taylor and sophomore Lucy Daro taking the top spot in the 400 Freestyle Relay in the final event of meet. Muir swam sub-50 seconds to win the 100 Freestyle, touching at 49.50 while Turcanu posted a mark of 2:02.22 to win the 200 Butterfly and the 400 Free relay turned in a winning time of 3:22.90.
Muir led the Eagles to a top-three sweep in the 100 Free as Taylor took second at 50.56 and Daro came in third with a time of 50.99. Freshman Gaige Elms recorded a second place effort in the 200 Backstroke at 2:00.06 and senior Ashley Daniels and freshman Clio Hancock each had third place showings with Daniels in the 200 Breaststroke at 2:16.35 and Hancock in the 200 Fly at 2:03.51.
Other NCAA B Cut times posted by the Eagles on Saturday were: freshman Edie Bates (7th-2:20.49) and sophomore Lara Gemar (2:20.72 in prelims) in the 200 Breast, junior Maria Kyle (4th, 2:04.27) and freshman Allie Dixon (2:04.84 in prelims) in the 200 Fly. Emory also saw the B relay of Hancock, freshman Grace Snyder and sophomores Bethany Seagraves and Christy Taylor turn in a NCAA qualifying time in the 400 Free, recording a time of 3:28.26.
The Eagles will be off the next few weeks for finals and the holiday break before returning to the pool on January 11th at Florida Southern.
Courtesy: Washington University St. Louis Athletics
Granville, Ill./Wheaton, Ill., Dec. 1, 2018 – The Washington University in St. Louis swimming & diving program closed out its week with 41 total NCAA Division III B cut times, with the Bears men totaling 10 on the final day of the nationally competitive Denison Invitational.
The No. 5-ranked men placed third overall with 1,530 points to No. 1 Denison University (2,936) and No. 2 Emory University (1,872). The WashU men also placed second overall at the Wheaton (Ill.) Invitational with 726 points.
The No. 9-ranked women added four more B cut times on Saturday at Denison and placed fifth overall to No. 1 Denison (2,479), Division I Eastern Michigan University (2,046), No. 2 Emory (1,704) and Division II Wayne State University (1,263). The women took first in Wheaton with 792 points.
MEN
The WashU men swam to B cut in all six of the final events on Saturday at Denison, led by senior Brandon Lum. He improved on his Division III leading time earlier this season in the 200 butterfly, with a B cut time of 1:47.52 in prelims. He placed second in the finals with a time of 1:47.61. Senior Jordan Wheeler also claimed a B cut finish in the event and placed third in 1:49.65.
Junior Peyton Wilson posted a 1:46.77 time in the 200 backstroke to take third place, with Division III’s third fastest time this season as well.
Three Bears swam under the B cut standard in the 200 breaststroke. Freshman Kevin Hao posted the fastest time of WashU’s competitors placing fourth overall, 2:01.71. Also earning B cut times were junior Simon Deshusses (2:02.35 in prelims) and senior Kevin Van Cleave (2:02.54).
Freshmen Jack Smithson and Rick Reinhard placed fifth and seventh respectively in the 1,650 freestyle. Smithson (15:47.86) and Reinhard’s (15:52.11) times are in the top-10 of Division III this year.
Junior Chase Van Patten placed fourth overall in the 100 freestyle (45.02) while also assisting in the B cut time of the men’s 400 freestyle relay. He was joined by Deshusses, senior Andrew Pek and Van Cleave to poste the fourth fastest time at the invite, 3:01.40.
WOMEN
Sophomore Ella Needler finished third in the 200 backstroke, posting Division III’s seventh fastest time in the event this season when she touched the wall in 2:02.83.
WashU excelled in the 100 freestyle on the women’s side as both senior Lauren Sapp and junior Mollie Seidner swam in less than the B cut time requirement. Sapp placed sixth overall with a time of 51.58, while Seidner’s prelim time of 51.59 met the requirement before her 51.91 time took eighth in the final swim.
Junior Stephanie Li was the lone other WashU woman to claim a B cut time on the night. She placed 10th overall in the 200 breaststroke while finishing with a 2:20.58 time.
Sophomore Katie Cardwell, freshman Kiki Bonetta-Misteli, Needler and freshman Grace Carey placed eighth overall in the 400 freestyle relay, ending the night with a 3:30.01 time. Freshman Abby Wilson also finished eighth in the 200 backstroke, 2:04.35.
Courtesy: Eastern Michigan Athletics
GRANVILLE, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University swimming and diving team wrapped up competition Saturday, Dec. 1, at the inaugural Denison Invitational inside Trumbull Aquatics Center. Eastern saved its best performance for the final day of the event, posting three event wins and earning two podium sweeps to finish the invitational in second place with 2,046 points.
Leading the Eagles on Saturday were junior Claire Young (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.-Grosse Pointe South) and senior Nicole Swartz (Dayton, Ohio-Centerville), who each earned their second event title of the weekend. Coming off a pool record-setting 100 Backstroke performance, Young tapped in more than a second before the field to earn first-place in the 200 Back with the team’s season-best time of 1:58.83. Meanwhile, Swartz earned her second event title in her first 1650 Freestyle swim this season, as the Eagles swept the podium in the distance event. The Dayton, Ohio native touched in 16:41.80, while sophomore Kaitlynd Scanlan (Waukesha, Wisc.-Pewaukee) arrived eight seconds later at 16:49.91, good for a second place finish. Rounding out the podium sweep was sophomore Alyssa Shugarman (Oswego, Ill.-Oswego), recording a career-best time of 16:52.33.
On the springboard, sophomore Micaela Schempf (Bowling Green, Ohio-Bowling Green) earned the Eagles’ third event title of the day with a season-high score of 285.10 to win the 3-meter dive. The Green and White swept the podium in the event, as junior Sophia Tsafantakis (Washington, Mich.-Romeo) and sophomore Bethany Berger (Batavia, Ohio-Glen Este) took second and third place with scores of 271.00 and 265.9, respectively.
Earning the other top finishes for the Eagles were seniors Delaney Duncan (Galesburg, Ill.-Galesburg) and Dora Vrcic (Dubrovacka, Split, Croatia), who both earned second place in their respective events. Duncan posted a season-best time of 2:15.05 to earn second in the 200 Breaststroke, while Vrcic touched in with a time of 2:02.44 in the 200 Fly, less than two-tenths of a second behind the first-place finisher.
The Eagles take a holiday break from competition until the new year, when EMU will return home to Jones Natatorium to take on fellow Denison Invitational competitor Wayne State University Jan. 12, 2019. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
