Derek Maas Leads NYU Men To Victory At Phoenix Fall Classic; UChicago Top Women’s Field

14th Annual Phoenix Fall Classic

• November 17-19, 2023
• Chicago, Il.
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

Former Alabama All-American Derek Maas led the NYU men to a first-place finish at the Phoenix Fall Classic, setting new UChicago Pool Records in the 200 IM (1:44.23), 100 back (46.55) and 200 back (1:43.75) for three individual wins.

Maas also split 52.06 swimming breaststroke on the 400 medley relay, and led off the 200 medley relay with a 21.35 backstroke leg while adding free relay splits of 19.13 and 42.76.

See more on NYU’s performance in their press release below (under uChicago).

Courtesy: UChicago Athletics

CHICAGO – University of Chicago hosted their premiere event of the fall season this past weekend, welcoming six other teams to participate in the 14^th Annual UChicago Phoenix Fall Classic. The Maroons finished with top two finishes while hitting 51 B-Cuts and setting a pool record in the process over the three-day event.

TEAM RESULTS
Men’s Team: 2^nd place (1280.5)
Women’s Team: 1^st place (1276.5)

MEN’S TEAM RECAP

• The men’s team easily took home a second place finish, earning almost 400 more points than third place Saint Louis University.
• Cooper Costello won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 47.77, but it was his mark that put him into the finals of the event that was even more impressive. He finished the first race of the day in 47.57 and set a new pool record. Costello also won the 100-yard butterfly event.
• Spencer Dearman was able to take the win in the 3-meter dive while he just missed out on the win in the 1-meter. Both of his scores hit the B-Cut standard.

UCHICAGO MEN’S WINNERS

• 50-yard Freestyle: Jason Starbuck (20.34)
• 100-yard Butterfly: Cooper Costello (47.77)
• 100-yard Breaststroke: Garrett Clasen (53.47)
• 100-yard Freestyle: Sebastien Vernhes (44.42)
• 200-yard Butterfly: Cooper Costello (1:46.05)
• 800-yard Freestyle Relay: Marcell Milo-Sidlo, Junichiro Asano, Hudson Chung, Kyle Garcia (6:40.51)
• 3-meter Dive: Spencer Dearman (481.95)

WOMEN’S TEAM RECAP

• The UChicago women came away from their big home meet with the win, beating UAA foe New York University by 13.5 points. It was a total team effort as the Maroons strung together a streak of high finishes in every competition that they entered.
• Chicago won five individual events, including three on the swim side of the event. Elisabella Forest, Ella McEver, and Bridget Ye grabbed wins in 200-yard events with times that easily hit the benchmark for the B-Cut
• The Maroons once again swept the diving portion of the tournament with Lilia Atanda and Veronica Fong each taking home a victory. Atanda earned the win in the 1-meter with a score of 467.60 while Fong topped her teammate in the 3-meter with a mark of 501.10. Even though they split the events, each athlete hit the B-Cut for each discipline.

UCHICAGO WOMEN’S WINNERS

• 200-yard Backstroke: Elisabella Forest (2:01.25)
• 200-yard Breaststroke: Ella McEver (2:19.32)
• 200-yard IM: Bridget Ye (2:04.10)
• 1-meter Dive: Lilia Atanda (467.60)
• 3-meter Dive: Veronica Fong (501.10)

WHAT’S NEXT
The Maroons will have some time away from the pool over the holidays before hoping back in to take on Northwestern at home on Saturday, January 13^th. They’ll take on the Wildcats starting at 11:00 am.

Courtesy: NYU Athletics

On Sunday, the New York University fifth-ranked men’s swimming team concluded the Phoenix Classic in Chicago, IL, as the weekend winners.

The Violets totaled 1482 points to hold a 200-point lead over second-place, third-ranked host University of Chicago’s 1280.5 points. Saint Louis University was third (883.5) while University of St. Thomas Minnestoa was fourth (323), Truman State University placed fifth (295), Illinois Institute of Technology was sixth (270), and Nebraska Wesleyan University was seventh (260).

Over the weekend, NYU won seven events to help secure their overall triumph.

The 200 medley A relay squad kicked off Saturday with a victory in an NCAA Division III selection time of 1:27.37.

Jaeden-Hans Yburan and Victor Derani went 1-2 in the 400 individual medley, throwing down selection times of 3:55.79 and 3:56.76, respectively.

Connor Vincent slammed the wall just 0.34 seconds behind 200 freestyle winner A.J. Kohler of Truman State. He clocked 1:38.39 to secure a lane at the Nationals Championships next March.

Emmett Ralston posted the Violets’ fourth selection cut with his time of 54.88 in the 100 breaststroke, earning him third place in Chicago.

Derek Maas demolished the 100 backstroke final, smashing the team record from 2016-17 and the selection cut with his scorching time of 46.55.

“The men’s 200 medley relay was outstanding – they all swam well, which is very exciting,” Head Coach Trevor Miele said. “Derek’s 100 back was impressive. His underwater kicks are unbelievable and he finished the race well. Jaeden and Victor had a nice battle in the 400 IM. I’m looking forward to seeing them battle it out at NCAA’s.”

On Sunday, Maas delivered his third program record of the season, this time destroying the 200 backstroke mark from last season with his NCAA-qualifying win in 1:43.75.

Leo Han nabbed a B cut behind Maas, racing to third with a time of 1:48.99.

Vincent crushed the 1650 freestyle field, posting a selection time of 15:31.05.

Derani claimed the 200 breaststroke victory with a career-best 2:00.61, a B cut.

To round off the dominant weekend, the 400 freestyle A relay team clocked 2:56.97 to lock down the win and the relay squad’s ticket to Nationals.

“I thought we had some impressive finals session the last two nights,” said Miele. “I’m really proud of the team and I think we’re in a great position heading towards the NCAA’s.”

The swimming teams will take a break from meets before returning in the new year for a dual meet against Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, on January 12.