Jake Meyer Clocks D3-Leading 100 Breast on Day 2 of Denison Invite

2023 Denison Invitational 

• November 29-December 2, 2023
• Trumbull Aquatics Center, Granville Ohio
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Start Times
  • Prelims: 10:00am (EST)
  • Finals: 6:00pm (EST)
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Livestream
• Long Course Time Trials Recap
• Day 1 Finals Recap

The action continues at the Denison Invitational. The second finals session featured the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 800 free relay.

After splitting 51.91 on the 400 medley relay last night, Jake Meyer established himself as the man to beat in the individual 100 breast, clocking 52.55 for a personal best, a new pool record, and the first sub-53 time in D3 this season in prelims. He nearly matched that time in finals, swimming 52.69 to win by exactly a second over Emory teammate Henri Bonnault. Meyer may have to contend with NYU-transfer Derek Maas come March to defend his NCAA title, but it’s shaping up to be an exciting race. For comparison, Maas split 52.06 on NYU’s 400 medley relay at the Phoenix Fall Classic where he didn’t swim the 100 breast individually.

Meyer is now the third-fastest performer in D3 history, behind Andrew Wilson and Collin Miller. Wilson is the only D3 athlete to break 52 seconds in the 100 breast, holding a national record of 50.94.

There were two more pool records broken earlier in the session, both courtesy of UIndy. The first came in the men’s 200 medley relay, where their A squad of Jeron Thompson (21.53), Brayden Cole (24.02), Oskar Sawicki (20.38), and Joao Silva (19.67) combined to swim over a second under the record (1:25.60). Emory’s A relay was close behind, also under the old record, which they previously held (1:25.95).

The Emory squad of Ryan Soh (22.01), Meyer (23.44), Jeff Echols (20.70), and Caden Bjornstad (19.80) were just 0.1 seconds off their NCAA record, set last March. Bjornstad is the newcomer to this relay.

The second pool record of the session was set by Cedric Buessing in the 400 IM (3:45.67), who also won the men’s 200 IM in similar record-breaking fashion. He just missed his best time, set last year at the D2 NCAA Championships. His younger brother Silas Buessing touched 2nd (3:53.65).

UIndy got another 1-2 finish in the men’s 100 fly, with Oskar Sawicki (47.48) and Elias Noe (48.02).

WashU got their first win of the session and the meet from Pace Edwards. Edwards led wire-to-wire in the 200 free, clocking 1:38.41 for the win. He slots into 2nd this season, just two-hundredths behind NYU’s Connor Vincent. He was then joined by teammates Ethan Feng, Danny Sibley, and Mark Lipkin in the 800 free relay to close out the session, where they combined for 6:35.98. That overtakes the previous top time of the season, held by Carnegie Mellon.

There was an exciting race in the men’s 100 backstroke. Alex McCormick (WashU) and Ryan Soh (Emory) were separated by just two-hundredths in prelims, clocking 48.18 and 48.20 respectively. In finals, it was Soh who got his hand on the wall first, matching McCormick’s prelims time of 48.18 for the win. McCormick was 7th in the event at NCAAs last season, while Soh missed out on finals.

On the women’s side, the host team Denison kicked things off with a win in the 200 medley relay. Jasmine Park, Riley Tofflemire, Maja Palmroos, and Grace Kadlecik combined for 1:42.17, outswimming UIndy’s team by 0.16 seconds after being behind at the 100.

The women’s 400 IM was all Denison in the morning, with Esme Wright leading a 1-2-3-4 finish out of prelims. Wright held onto her top position at night, stopping the clock at 4:23.02, but UIndy’s Andrea Gomez Espinosa touched 2nd (4:24.51). Gomez Espinosa was in the lead until the 250, but Wright used a strong breaststroke leg to pull ahead (1:14.02 to 1:18.65).

The UIndy women dominated the stroke 100s, with Stefanie Markwardt in the 100 fly (55.05), Celina Schmidt in the 100 breast (1:00.94), and Isabella Revstedt in the 100 back (54.65).

In the women’s 200 free, Penelope Helm (Emory) and Emily Harris (Denison) finished just four-hundredths apart in prelims to clock the only sub-1:51 swims, setting up a finals showdown. At night, Harris jumped out to an early lead, flipping in 53.91 at the 100. She was still in the lead at the 150, but was passed by four swimmers on the final 50 to ultimately finish 5th (1:50.88). Her teammate Annie Pfeufer led the charge with a 27.90 closing split, stopping the clock at 1:50.50. Behind her was Helm (1:50.60), Eastern Michigan’s Kiersten Russell (1:50.67), and Denison’s Quinn Brown (1:50.84).

To close out the night, Wright (1:50.02), Pfeufer (1:51.29), Brown (1:52.45), and Harris (1:50.70) clocked 7:24.46 in the 800 free relay to establish a new top time in D3.

The final day of the meet will feature the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, and 400 free relay.

Team Scores

Women 

1. Denison, 1385
2. UIndy, 997.5
3. Emory, 998.5
4. Eastern Michigan, 786.5
5. WashU, 578.5
6. Emory & Henry, 204

Men

1. Emory, 1187
2. UIndy, 1185
3. Denison, 1165
4. WashU, 958
5. Emory & Henry, 236