Jan 18, 2014
The women of Johns Hopkins University took it out fast and kept going to win the meet on Saturday against visiting Stevens Tech. The Blue Jays tallied 134 points to the Ducks’ 119 for the victory, as well as breaking a quartet of pool records in the process, in the meet which honored their four graduating seniors, and the one graduating junior.
JHU got a strong start with a sweep of the top three spots in the relay. Taylor Kitayama, Katie Rownd, Kylie Ternes and Sarah Rinsma combined to put up a 1:51.16 in their 200 medley relay for first place. They just outtouched their B relay – which finished at 1:51.79. Steven’s top finishing relay was a 1:53.28 which came in fourth.
The 1000 freestyle went to freshman Danielle Caruso of Stevens who swam a 10:42.15 to win the event. She was over 14 seconds ahead of teammate Elizabeth Heinbach who finished second in 10:56.42. JHU’s Lindsay Kriz was the top finisher for the Blue Jays. Her time of 11:00.30 was a career best and good for third.
Stevens extended its streak to two wins, this time with Caruso taking the victory in the 200 freestyle (1:56.48). JHU had the next three finishers, though, cutting down on the individual point margin a win can score for a team in a dual meet. Ellen Marcus of JHU finished second in 1:57.92.
Kitayama hit the water for the 100 backstroke, then, and never looked back. Her time of 56.66 was almost four seconds faster than teammate Melinda Yau (1:00.32) who finished in second place, and broke her own pool record by more than a second. To add to that, JHU also had the third top finisher in the 100 backstroke in Ana Bogdanovski (1:00.54).
After Kitayama’s display, the Blue Jays women got amped up enough to win the next five events. Pilar Shimizu won the 100 breast by narrowly outtouching Brittany Geyer of Stevens, 1:08.61 to 1:08.84. Then Shirley Chan led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 butterfly with teammates Abby Brown and Keri Gawlik. Chan finished in 2:08.15 and Brown in 2:09.92 – the only two women under 2:10. Gawlik was a 2:17.30.
Rinsma and Ternes went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, separated by just .04. Rinsma edged out her teammate for victory in 24.70, while Ternes touched in second in 24.74. April Lawson of Stevens finished third in a 25.16.
Bogdanovski returned to the pool after the backstroke event to break her own record – that in the 100 freestyle. She touched in at 52.06 to break a pool record that has stood for 35 years by over half a second. That time is also just outside a being a top 16 time (although considering that Bogdanovski has the fastest 100 freestyle in DIII at this point, that’s not too surprising). Teammate Kailyn Koh was second, narrowly beating out Steven’s Lawson 54.63 to 54.69 to claim the runner up spot.
Sean McGrath led the Jays into yet another 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 2:07.78. She was the only woman under 2:10 in the event, and was just about six seconds ahead of second place Hannah Benn (2:13.38). After that, though, the Ducks ended the Jays’ streak of wins.
Geyer led the Ducks to a 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke, taking the victory in 2:28.45. She won by a large margin, beating her teammate Elena Piper by a little over five seconds (2:33.72). Right after, Caruso returned to the pool and was victorious in the 500 freestyle, rocking the pool with a 5:12.19. All three Hopkins’ girls were under a minute in the event.
For the remainder of the meet, the women of Johns Hopkins competed in exhibition. However, that didn’t stop them from breaking two more pool records. Kitayama broke yet another record in the 100 butterfly – this one a 20 year old record that she smashed by nearly two seconds, swimming a 56.10 for the fastest time of the meet.
Kylie Holden was the fastest to finish the 200 IM for the Jays, touching in at 2:12.17 to come away with the victory. But the true finale was the final event of the day for the Jays where the team of Jillian Liwacz, Kitayama, Rinsma and Ternes combined forces to take down the final pool record of the day, touching in at 3:33.41. Rinsma and Kitayama had had a hand in creating that record in 2011.
On the men’s side of things, Hopkins was also dominant. They started the meet off on the right foot with a 1-2 victory in the 200 medley relay. Dylan Davis, Evan Holder, Greg Kogut and Jeremy Bauchwitz were the first team to the wall – the Hopkins B team, finishing in 1:35.30 to beat out the A team (1:35.58).
Not to be outdone by the women, Andrew Greenhalgh added his name (again) to the record board during the meet as well, taking down the 1000 freestyle pool record with a time of 9:26.84. The record he broke was set 36 years ago by JHU Hall of Famer Tim Collins, and is a bare 4.11 seconds off the school record held by Scott Armstrong. Less than a week and a half ago, Greenhalgh also took down the mile record in the same pool.
Will Kimball and Holder went 1-2 in the men’s 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:42.26 and 1:43.20 respectively. This was the third of eleven straight event wins. Davis returned to the water to add an individual event title, claiming the 100 backstroke in 51.87. Ravi Sun finished second for Stevens (52.26). Joseph Acquaviva led a sweep of the 100 breaststroke, and was the only man under the minute mark, at 58.41, well ahead of second place teammate Sterrett (1:00.99). Kogut led his own sweep in the 200 butterfly, claiming first place honors in 1:55.27. Muhammad Hudhud joined him as the only two under the two minute mark. Hudhud touched in second at 1:57.31.
Anthony Lordi won the 50 freestyle, more than half a second ahead of Stevens’ Joe Huyett (21.15 to 21.95). Then he returned to the pool for a victory in the 100 freestyle, winning in 46.16 ahead of teammate Kimball (46.78). Lordi was over half a second faster on his back half than anyone else, just a hair’s breadth away from closing in a 23 high.
Davis claimed his second backstroke event title in the 200 (1:54.74) two seconds ahead of Stevens’ Sun (1:56.35). Then Acquaviva collected an event win in the 200 breaststroke (2:10.47) and Greenhalgh added a second individual event win to his roster, leading a sweep of the 500 freestyle in 4:36.31. This was less than half a second away from the pool record.
In the final three events, Hopkins swam exhibition. As with the women, swimming exhibition did not stop the Jays from posting the fastest times in the final events. Kogut touched the wall in 50.81, finishing ahead of Jack Rees of Stevens (52.39). Holder’s 1:54.96 200 IM was four seconds ahead of Sun’s 1:58.72. And in the 400 freestyle relay wrapping up the session, the team of Kimball, Acquaviva, Lordi and David Woodford finished the quickest, clocking in at 3:07.26.
For complete meet results, click here. JHU returns to the pool Wednesday Jan 29 in Annapolis, MD to face the Navy Midshipmen at 5pm.
