Hawkeye Day 2 Finals: Nikolaev Blasts 44.61 100 Back

2018 HAWKEYE INVITATIONAL

• Thursday, November 15 – Saturday, November 17, 2018
• Iowa City, IA
• SCY
• Live results

TOP 5 TEAM SCORES (DAY 2)

WOMEN

1. Minnesota – 764
2. Nebraska – 607
3. Iowa – 481.5
4. SMU – 275.5
5. Missouri State – 239

MEN

1. Purdue – 586.5
2. Iowa – 555.5
3. Minnesota – 540
4. Grand Canyon – 525
5. Missouri State – 274

WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY

Minnesota ran away with the 200 medley relay, establishing a new meet record in a time of 1:37.82. The previous record stood at 1:39.18, and was held by Michigan from 2011. Emily Cook led the Golden Gophers off in 24.71, the only sub-25 split in the field. Breaststroke star Lindsey Kozelsky then split a 27.14, which is one of the fastest breast splits we’ve seen in the NCAA this season. Tevyn Waddell then posted a 23.44 on the fly leg, and Zoe Avestruz was 22.53 on the anchor leg to bring Minnesota into the finish over 2 seconds ahead of the field.

The next 3 teams all went 1:40, with SMU posted a 1:40.23, Iowa going 1:40.63, and Nebraska swimming a 1:40.71.

MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY

Grand Canyon swam to victory in the men’s 200 medley relay, touching in 1:25.59 to narrowly miss the meet record of 1:25.55, held by Michigan. Mark Nikolaev, one of the fastest sprint backstrokers in the NCAA, led off Grand Canyon in a blistering 21.02, outsplitting the field by well over a second. He was followed by Bogdan Plavin in 24.55. Grand Canyon then used a speedy back half from Daniil Antipov (20.43) and Mazen Shoukri (19.59) to close out the victory. Missouri State came in 2nd with a 1:26.06, thanks in part to a very quick 23.10 breast split from Blair Bish. Minnesota finished 3rd in 1:26.33, but was disqualified. Max McHugh posted a stunningly fast 22.51 breaststroke split on that relay. With Minnestoa DQ’d, Purdue came in 3rd with a 1:27.41.

WOMEN’S 400 IM

Missouri State’s Josie Pearson took the 400 IM in finals, again beating out Madison Coughlen (Nebraska). Pearson knocked 4 seconds off her prelims time, posting a 4:16.38 for an NCAA B cut. Couchlen came in at 4:17.52, taking a little over 3 seconds off her prelims time. That marks a best time for Pearson, whose previous best came at last year’s MVC Championships, where she went 4:16.91.

MEN’S 400 IM

Purdue freshman Brett Riley won the men’s 400 IM, posting a 3:51.03 to finish less than one-tenth of a second off his prelims swim. In prelims, his time earned him an NCAA B cut. Riley used a quick back half to pull away from the field, posting a 1:04.75 breaststroke split, and a 54.08 on the free split.

WOMEN’S 100 FLY

Tevyn Waddell took this event by over a second, blasting a 52.08 to drop significantly from her prelims swim of 53.45. Waddell shaved .23 seconds off her personal best, which she had swum at last season’s Big Ten Champs. Iowa’s Kelsey Drake came in 2nd with a 53.12, knocking nearly a second off her prelims time. Drake also edged her best time, shaving .43 seconds off her personal best.

MEN’S 100 FLY

Purdue’s Joseph Young got his hands on the wall first in a tight race with Minnesota’s Matthew Thomas. Young swam a 47.74, edging Thomas out by .20 seconds. Young was just off his prelims time of 47.61. Grand Canyon freshman Mazen Shoukri came in 3rd, right behind Thomas with a 47.98, going sub-48 for the first time in his career.

WOMEN’S 200 FREE

Mackenzie Padington (Minnesota) came out on top in an event where the top 3 finishers all broke the Meet Record, and 2 broke the Pool record. Padington and runner-up Chantal Nack (Minnesota) swam 2 of only a handful of sub-1:45 200 freestyles this so far this season. Padington was in at 1:44.23, with Nack close behind in 1:44.52. Hannah Burvill of Iowa was 3rd in 1:45.93. The previous meet record stood at 1:46.66, and the pool record was 1:45.43 from Siobahn Haughey just 2 weeks ago.

MEN’S 200 FREE

Daniil Antipov took the 200 free in a tight race with Minnesota’s Nicholas Saulnier, touching in 1:36.65 to 1:36.97. Antipov came back on Saulnier, hitting the 100 mark .19 seconds behind, but outpacing Saulnier by about half a second on the final 100.

WOMEN’S 100 BREAST

Lindsey Kozelsky was the only swimmer to break 1:00, posting a 59.60, shaving off a little time from her prelims swim of 59.80. SMU’s Andrea Podmanikova came in 2nd, narrowly missing the 1:00 mark with a 1:00.01. Minnesota’s Rachel Munson came in 3rd with a 1:00.23.

MEN’S 100 BREAST

Max McHugh won the men’s 100 breast, hitting the NCAA A cut standard exactly, touching in 51.73. That time was a meet record, shattering the previous record of 52.54. McHugh was just off his lifetime best of 51.59, and is currently one of only 3 swimmers that have been under 52 seconds so far this year. Missouri State’s Blair Bish finished not far behind, touching in 52.34, which was also under the previous meet record.

WOMEN’S 100 BACK

Tevyn Waddell won this final, blowing away her prelims swim of 54.03 by touching in 52.48. Waddell posted the fastest split on all four 25s of the race, marking the only swimmer in the field to keep all her 25 splits under 14 seconds. Minnesota teammate Emily Cook came in 2nd with a 54.31, edging her prelims time of 54.50.

MEN’S 100 BACK

Mark Nikolaev blasted a nation-leading 44.61 to win the 100 back by 2.45 seconds. Nikolaev threw down a brutally fast 21.64 on the first 50 of the race, and brought it home in 22.97. Not only did he blow away the Meet Record of 45.60, he also blew away the NCAA A time of 45.12, marking the first A time for GCU this season. Now Grand Canyon only needs and A cut in a relay to then qualify all their relays with B cuts to the NCAAs in March. Purdue had a 2-3 finish in the 100 back, with Kristian Komlenic coming in 2nd at 47.06, and Timothy Barth touching 3rd in 48.38.

WOMEN’S 800 FRE RELAY

Minnesota stormed to a victory here, shattering the meet record and winning the race by 8 seconds. Tevyn Waddell led off in 1:47.26, followed by Chantal Nack (1:46.58), Mackenzie Padington (1:46.16), and Zoe Avestruz (1:49.22). The Gophers finished in a final time of 7:09.22, breaking the previous meet record of 7:17.25.

MEN’S 800 FREE RELAY

Iowa narrowly edged out Grand Canyon by .08 seconds. Mateusz Arndt (1:37.32), Jackson Allmon (1:37.50), and Benjamin Colin (1:38.30) got Iowa to a 2.11 second lead at the 600 mark. Grand Canyon’s Daniil Antipov then posted a 1:35.25 anchor split, vastly out-splitting Iowa’s Michael Tenney (1:37.28). Minnesota finished just behind, posting a 6:31.43.