2022 MAGNUS CUP INVITATIONAL
- November 17-19, 2022
- Busbey Natatorium, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Prelims/Finals
- Day 1 Results // Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Results // Day 2 Recap
- Day 3 Results
Three more wins in three more starts for Akron junior Maddy Gatrall wrapped up the 2022 Magnus Cup Invitational as Akron won the invite for the second-straight year. The Xavier Musketeers, meanwhile, won the men’s invite after finishing 2nd last season.
Women’s Final Team Scores:
- Akron – 1,532. 50
- Duquesne – 866. 50
- Xavier – 820
- University of Toledo – 702
- Niagara University – 438
- St Bonaventure – 383
- Indiana University of PA – 262
- Canisius College – 234
- Case Western – 193
- Cleveland State – 181
- Gannon – 149
- Fairmont State – 21
Men’s Final Team Scores:
- Xavier – 1,076
- Cleveland State – 896. 50
- Gannon – 740. 50
- Case Western – 703. 50
- St Bonaventure – 610
- Canisius – 561. 50
- Niagara – 525. 50
- Indiana University of PA – 324. 50
- Fairmont State -130
- WVU-Tech – 59
Gatrall ended the meet with 10 wins in 11 starts; the only blemish on her roster was a day 1 relay where Akron touched first, but were disqualified.
On Saturday, the final day of competition, Gatrall added two more individual wins and a relay victory as well. First, in the 200 back, she won in 1:56.67, beating out her teammate Weronika Gorecka. Gorecka is the defending MAC Champion in the event and a 2022 NCAA Championship qualifier.
That 200 backstroke was the only individual event of the meet where Gatrall didn’t hit a lifetime best.
In her next and final individual event, Gatrall won the women’s 100 free in 50.03, her 5th personal best of the weekend. She led another Akron 1-2 finish, this time with Abby Daniel finishing 2nd in 50.51: a personal best for her too.
Gatrall’s previous best time was a 50.14 at this same meet last season, while Daniel was 51.00 in January 2022.
Gatrall led off in 50.13, very close to another personal best, and Daniel anchored in 49.93 as Akron closed the meet with a winning 3:21.38 in the 400 free relay. In between, Gorecka (50.27) and Julia Mauter (51.05) swam the 2nd and 3rd legs.
That swim was almost two seconds ahead of runners-up Toledo, who were led by a 49.94 rolling start from Kennedy Lovell.
Gatrall’s Results:
- 50 free – 23.19 (1st) – PB
- 100 free – 50.03 (1st) – PB
- 200 free – 1:49.06 (1st) – PB
- 100 back – 52.61 (1st) – PB
- 200 back – 1:56.67 (1st)
- 200 IM – 2:01.15 (1st) – PB
- 200 free relay – 22.58 anchor (1st)
- 400 free relay – 50.13 leadoff (1st)
- 800 free relay – 1:49.94 third leg (1st)
- 200 medley relay – 24.85 back (1st)
- 400 medley relay – 53.68 backstroke (DQ)
Other Day 3 Women’s Winners:
- Duquesne sophomore Orla Egan grabbed her 2nd win of the meet, winning the women’s mile in 16:59.74. She was responsible for both of the Dukes’ wins at the meet after topping the 500 free in 4:53.44 on day 1 of the meet. Those were two of the three events not won by Akron.
- The Akron women went 1-2-3 in the women’s 200 breaststroke, led by Andrea Fischer in 2:15.26. Madeline Dyer was 2nd in 2:16.08 and Giovanna Cappabianca was 3rd in 2:16.41.
- Paige Mikesell from Division II IUP won the 200 fly in 1:59.28 after a 1:58.94 in prelims. She was the fastest swimmer in prelims of the 100 fly before scratching the final. That swim is an NCAA “A” standard, automatically pushing her through to nationals in March.
The men’s meet continued as it has been for most of the weekend: Xavier and hosts Cleveland State splitting the wins, but Xavier’s superior depth maintained their lead in the team scoring.
Andrew Martin of Xavier led off the day with a 15:28.54 in the 1650 free. Martin swam every distance of freestyle at this meet, and wound up winning the three longer ones. It was the shorter 50 free, though, where he got his only personal best of the meet.
Cleveland State counter-punched in the next event, the men’s 200 backstroke, with their star Paddy Johnston. He won in 1:46.39, which is a personal best time for him and gave him three individual wins as well (100 back, 50 free).
With both teams at full-bore, there was a big final showdown in the men’s 400 free relay. Johnston took Cleveland State out to an early lead with a 44.28 opening leg, the fastest split of the field of any kind, but Xavier clawed back with Martin on their 2nd leg (44.60). Cleveland State grew their lead again on the 3rd leg thanks to a 44.52 split from Connor Green, which gave the host team from Cleveland State a big lead. On paper, the race was over there, but a trasncendent split from Gage Hannewyk of Xavier made it competitive at the finish. He closed nine-tenths on the Cleveland State anchor, Spencer Tussing, with a 44.38 split. That was 1.7 seconds better than his flat-start swim from earlier in the session.
He ran out of room, though, and the final touch had Cleveland State in front in 2:58.97, with Xavier 2nd in 2:59.38. In total, Cleveland State won three relays at the meet, versus just one for Xavier, but Xavier still cruised to a win by almost 200 points.
Other Men’s Day 3 Winners:
- Gannon’s Stephen McCallum won the men’s 100 free in 44.79. That time is just a tenth shy of the school record of 44.68. Gannon in total broke six school records at the meet, including in the closing 400 free relay that McCallum was a part of.
- There was another D2 winner in the men’s 200 breaststroke. There, Thanos Diamantidis of IUP won in 1:58.71, breaking Shaun Yap’s 2015 Meet Record. That’s also a second school record for him, after breaking the 100 breast mark earlier in the meet.
- NCAA D1 team Canisius grabbed their first win of the meet in the men’s 200 fly. Archie Minto won in 1:47.28, which broke his own school record of 1:47.87 from the MAAC Championships in February. He broke the school record in the 100 fly earlier in the meet when he finished 3rd in 48.35.
