The Northwestern women successfully defended their home pool as they won the Northwestern TYR Invite over second place Michigan State on Sunday night. Michigan State won the men’s meet ahead of Grand Canyon University. Full results can be found here for the women and here for the men.
Northwestern:
Women-
EVANSTON, Ill. — After three days of competition, Northwestern took home first place in the TYR Invitational on Sunday. In the final day, NU swimmers posted three NCAA ‘B’ cuts and broke a Norris Aquatics Pool record in the 100 free.
In all, the Wildcats earned seven NCAA ‘B’ qualifications and broke two pool records.
The ‘Cats earned their first place finish with 1188.5 points. Behind them were Michigan State (962), Grand Canyon (735), UIC (446), Truman State (348) and St. Louis (322.5).
Sunday’s Preliminaries
In the first event of the morning, Maddy Sims (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove) was the lone Wildcat to qualify for the ‘A’ heat in the 50 fly with her prelim time of 25.88. Alex Grimes (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos), Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College) and Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) placed into the consolation final with times in the top 16. Joining them were Aja Malone (Acworth, Ga./Allatoona) and Lindsay Adamski(Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead), as they swam times of 26.58 and 26.72, respectively, earning spots in the bonus final.
A pair of NU sprinters swam top-eight times in the 200 back. Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain) finished in second and fourth, respectively. Ellen Anderson (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg) was the only other Wildcat to qualify for a second swim with her 13th-place time of 2:07.27.
After earning an NCAA ‘B’ cut yesterday evening, Winsnes took home first place in the 100 free prelims with a 50.52 time. Mary Warren (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) tied for third place with her time of 51.21.
A quartet of Wildcats finished 1-2-3-4 in the platform diving competition. Olivia Rosendahl(Los Angeles, Calif./Immaculate Heart), Mashel Hashem (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill),Eryn Scannell (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) and Monique Demaisip (Norwalk, Calif./Gahr) were the top divers for the team from the platform.
Two Wildcats finished 2-3 in the 200 breast, turning in times of 2:20.04 and 220.69, respectively. Katie Branch (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon Honors) ensured herself a point-gaining spot in the finals sessions with her 12th-place time of 2:25.16. Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and Georgie Pettibone (Santa Rosa, Calif./Analy) ensured themselves second swims, qualifying for the ‘C’ heat.
Three ‘Cats finished in the top four of the 100 IM prelims, including a 1-2 finish by Locke (58.15) and Warren (58.44). Postoll just trailed them with her fourth-place time of 59.23. Adamski qualified for the ‘B’ heat in the afternoon sessions with her 1:01.81 time.
In the final qualifier, Stello, Sims and Grimes all finished in the top five of the 200 fly, earning them spots in the championship final. Stello, who finished in first place, swam the event in 2:02.32. Sydney Modeas (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence) qualified for the consolation final with her 11th-place finish of 2:08.52. Peyton Greenberg‘s (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) time of 2:15.46 qualified her for the bonus final.
Sunday’s Finals
With a victory in the platform diving competition (233.80 points), Rosendahl took home first place in all three of the diving competitions at the TYR Invitational. Just like the prelims — and in the same order — the Wildcats finished 1-2-3-4 from the platform.
In the team’s first time competing in the 1,650 free this season, four ‘Cats finished in the top five. Anderson swam a first-place time of 16:35.89, Abruzzo finished in third, swimming the mile in 16:47.48, Modeas took home a fourth-place time of 16:56.84 and Emily Launer(DeKalb, Ill./Rosary) touched in at 17:11.91, good for a fifth-place finish. Purdy, the other Wildcat to compete in the event, swam a ninth-place time of 17:26.49.
After winning Saturday’s 100 fly, Sims came back and won the 50 fly with a time of 24.88. A trio of Wildcats finished in the top three of the ‘B’ heat, as Grimes, Winsnes and Stello swam times of 25.42, 25.52 and 25.84, respectively.
Locke wasted no time after yesterday’s NCAA ‘B’ cut in the 100 back. She came back out and reached another ‘B’ cut in the 200 back, turing in a second-place time of 1:57.43. Right on her coattails was Postoll, who also posted a ‘B’ cut with her 200 back time of 1:58.83, coming in third place. Anderson, after finishing in first in the mile, came back out and finished in the first of all of the ‘B’ cut competitors.
Northwestern earned another ‘B’ cut in the next event, as Winsnes swam the 100 free in a season-best 49.78. This was Winsnes’s second ‘B’ cut in as many days, as she earned the distinction in the 200 free Saturday. Warren was the second-place finisher, turning in a time of 50.67.
The Wildcats finished 1-2 in the 200 breast with Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkvew) and Greenberg turning in times of 2:16.54 and 2:17.01, respectively. Branch was the top finisher of the consolation final with her 2:17.43 swim.
In the 100 IM, three Northwestern swimmers finished in the top four. Warren swam a first-place time of 56.24, Postoll finished in second with a 57.85 time and Locke touched in at 58.18, a fourth-place time. In the ‘B’ heat, Adamski swam a 59.67 event and took home the top spot in the group.
In yet another event, the Wildcats finished in first. In the 200 fly, NU finished 1-2-3, as Stello turned in a time of 2:00.24, Sims swam the event in a cool 2:01.17 and Grimes finished in 2:01.33. Modeas collected nine points with a 9th-place finish of 2:04.08.
In the final event, Northwestern’s ‘A’ quartet of Winsnes, Malone, Locke and Warren closed out the Invitational with a first-place 3:23.55 in the 400 free relay. In the leadoff split, Winsnes broke her own pool record in the 100 free with a time of 49.3.
Men-
EVANSTON, Ill. — Junior Andrew Cramer claimed his second diving title of the weekend to lead Northwestern on the third and final day of competition Sunday at the TYR Invitational at Norris Aquatics Center.
One day after placing first on the 3-meter diving board, Cramer won on the platform by posting a score of 286.10. Northwestern completed the meet in third place with a final team score of 852, trailing Michigan State (1161.5) and Grand Canyon University (1043).
The Wildcats’ top swimming finish of the day came courtesy of senior Grant Halsall in the 100 yard IM as he finished second with a time of 50.43 Anthony Marcantonio (50.96) contributed a third-place finish in event while Thanas Kountroubis (53.87) placed eighth.
Freshman Tyler Lis earned a bronze performance in the 200 yard backstroke (1:48.78), while Marcantonio came in sixth (1:50.47). Freshman Carter Page also earned a third-place finish in the 1650 yard freestyle by posting a time of 15:42.71. Jonathan Blansfieldcontributed a fifth-place finish in the event (15:59.99).
The 200 yard butterfly saw freshman Justin Hanson earn a third-place standing as he finished in 1:49.55.
In the 50 yard freestyle, Halsall was the top Wildcat as he came in fourth in 22.33, whileAndy Jovanovic was close behind in sixth (22.40). Freshman Will Hofstadter contributed points in the 100 free as he finished eighth (46.05). Gage Kohner won the consolation final with a time of 45.18 that would have placed fifth in the championship final.
In the lone relay event of the day, Northwestern’s team of Kohner, Hofstadter, Jovanovic and Almog Olshtein earned second-place points due to a disqualification as they posted a time of 2:59.77.
Michigan State:
EVANTSON, Ill. – Michigan State swimming & diving claimed the men’s team title at the TYR Northwestern Invite on Sunday, Nov. 22, at the Norris Aquatics Center in Evanston, as the women finished in second.
“Overall, I was very pleased with the three days,” said head coach Matt Gianiodis. “We got a lot accomplished and had some outstanding swims. Being just the midway point though, we have a lot of work ahead of us. I am happy with it though.”
The men’s team found early success on the third day of competition, placing three swimmers in the top five of the 1,650 free. Junior Jon Burke recorded MSU’s lone first-place finish of the final day, turning in a 15:21.12. Sophomore Joe Szczupakiewiczfinished in second, tapping the wall in 15:32.26. Junior Adam Henley beat out fifth place by just over 10 seconds with a 15:42.71 for fourth.
After a strong day two that saw a first-place finish, junior Sarah Love took fourth in the 50 fly with a 25.21.
The Spartan men showcased their depth in the 50 fly, earning three lanes in the championship heat. Senior Jacob Moore took third with a 22.18, as sophomore Alex Trompke followed in fourth in 22.38. Freshman Gabe Whitaker showed he can contribute early in his MSU career, finishing in seventh with a time of 22.48.
“This was a much different swim than what we will have even at Big Ten Championships,” Gianiodis said. “They did a great job though of competing and kept coming back. Sometimes you touch the wall first and sometimes you don’t”
Freshman Cathryn Armstrong was the lone Spartan to make the finals of the 200 back, turning in a fourth-place performance of 2:01.57.
The women earned a pair of spots in the championship heat of the 100 free, with sophomore Racheal Bukowski pacing MSU with a 51.13. Freshman Courtney Aycock was sixth in 51.38.
Senior Marina Borri and junior Kennedy Cutler earned crucial points in the 200 breaststroke and 100 yard IM, respectively. Borri clocked a 2:17.39 for third place in the 200 breast, as Cutler went 58.02 for third in the 100 IM.
With the final day coming to a close, the men tallied 54 points in the 100 IM with four Spartans earning lanes in the finals. Sophomore Tal Hanani took fourth with a 51.85, as junior Ben Martin took fifth in 51.96. Sophomore Nick Leshok continued his impressive weekend with a sixth-place finish with an effort of 52.06, while junior Alex Kandt finished in 52.43 for seventh.
The women ended the meet with a third-place performance in the 400 free relay. Sophomore Anna Stephens, Bukowski, seniorEmily Parsons and Aycock combined for a time of 3:27.56.
Northwestern claimed the women’s team title with 1,188.5 points. MSU amassed a score of 962 for second. Grand Canyon finished in second on the men’s side behind Michigan State’s 1,161.5 points.
The Spartans’ fall schedule has come to a close. Michigan State returns on Jan. 15 for a two-day dual at Ohio State.
Truman State:
EVANSTON, Ill. – – The No. 12 Truman women finished fifth, while the No. 24 men finished sixth at the Northwestern University TYR Cup on Sunday, closing the three-day meet with a combined 19 NCAA Div. II B-cuts.
The Bulldog women earned 348 total points in the team competition, edging Div. I St. Louis University to finish fifth, while the Bulldog men captured 196 total points in the event, which featured five Div. I programs (two Big Ten Conference) and Truman.
On Sunday, the Bulldog women picked up five more B-cuts, with four coming as individuals along with the 400 free relay. Jasmine Roghair and Shannon Dague each put in strong work in the 1650 free, as Roghair finished eighth with a B-cut mark of 17:25.51 and Dague took 10th with a 17:31.79 B-cut time. Truman’s other two individual B-cuts both came in the 100 free, as Nikki Sisson finished fifth overall with a time of 51.16, while Alison Strickler touched in eighth with a time of 51.97.
The women’s 400 free relay unit of Jamie Fitzpatrick, Strickler, Sisson, and Kortney Betz finished seventh in its race, hitting the wall in a time of 3:30.55 for the third B-cut relay time of the three-day event. Emma Barnett and Hannah Nicks each swam in the A-final of the 200 back, finishing seventh and eighth respectively.
For the men, JT Thayer punched a B-cut time in the 1650 free, finishing ninth with a time of 16:06.69. The Bulldogs’ quartet of George Dowdy, Neil Girmus, Sam Heveroh, and Tim Senholtz took seventh in the 400 free relay, finishing with a time of 3:05.46.
The Bulldogs will have one more event in the fall semester, traveling to Div. I Western Illinois on Dec. 5 for a 12 p.m. dual.
Night 2 Recap – Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
EVANSTON, Ill. – – The Truman men’s and women’s swimming teams added five B-cuts on the second day of competition at the TYR Cup, including posting the fastest time this season so far by any NCAA Div. II women’s program in the 800 free relay to close out the night.
The Bulldog women’s quartet of Emma Barnett, Kortney Betz, Nikki Sisson, and Jasmine Roghair logged a time of 7:41.02 in the evening’s final event, finishing seventh overall and locking a B-cut time in the 800 free relay. Earlier in the night, the ‘Dogs also captured a B-cut time in the 200 medley relay, as Hannah Nicks, Ally Neumann, Libby Opfer, and Sisson punched a time of 1:45.64 and a seventh-place finish.
Three individuals also notched NCAA Div. II B-cuts, including Nicks’ preliminary time of 56.94 in the 100 back (finishing seventh overall), Sisson’s fourth-place finishing time of 1:50.72 in the 200 free finals, andWill Shanel‘s 14th-place time of 4:01.60 in the 400 IM.
The Bulldogs will return to action for the final day of competition on Sunday for the 50 fly, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 100 IM, 200 fly, 1650 free, and 400 free relay events.
Night 1 Recap – Friday, Nov. 20, 2015
EVANSTON, Ill. – – A frenzy in the 500 free, resulting in four NCAA B-cuts, highlighted day one at the Northwestern (Ill.) University TYR Cup, as the Truman men’s and women’s swimming teams combined for eight B-cuts in NU’s Norris Aquatic Center.
In the six-team competition featuring Truman and five NCAA Div. I programs, the Bulldog women accumulated 102 points to tie St. Louis University for fifth-place, while the men picked up 67 points and sit sixth through day one action.
Highlights on the day included the Bulldog women’s 200 free relay squad that posted the current No. 1 time in NCAA Div. II this season with a B-cut mark of 1:34.66. Nikki Sisson, Alison Strickler, Jamie Fitzpatrick, and Hannah Nicks combined to finish just 1.4 seconds back of first-place Northwestern and less than seven-tenths of a second back of both Michigan State and Grand Canyon (Ariz.).
The other top event for the Bulldog women was the 500 free, which included improved or first-time B-cuts for Emma Barnett (5:00.27; 6th place), Kortney Betz (5:02.19; 13th place), Sisson (5:02.61), andJasmine Roghair (5:05.04). Sisson added a third B-cut of the day with a fifth-place finish in the 50 free (23.81) and was joined by Strickler’s B-cut mark of 23.95 as well in the event.
On the men’s side, JT Thayer recorded the Bulldogs’ first B-cut of the season in the 500 free, touching with the seventh-fastest time in Div. II at the moment with a mark of 4:36.81. Neil Girmus was part of two sixth-place finishes on the night – doing so as an individual in the 50 Breast (26.13) as well as swimming anchor in the 200 free relay along with Sam Heveroh, George Dowdy, and Austin Baker with a time of 1:24.75.
On Saturday, preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. and finals commence at 5 p.m. for the events of the 200 medley relay, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast, the 100 back, and the 800 free relay.
Event Preview – Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015
KIRKSVILLE – – The biggest event of the fall 2015 schedule is on tap for the nationally-ranked Truman State University men’s and women’s swimming teams this weekend, as a three-day meet against five NCAA Div. I programs will kick off on Friday at the TYR Cup in Evanston, Ill.
This season marks the third straight year that head coach Ed Pretre has taken his two squads to the Northwestern University campus for the TYR Cup, which will feature the Bulldogs, host Wildcats, fellow Big Ten member Michigan State University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, St. Louis University, and Grand Canyon (Ariz.) University. Action begins at 9 a.m. each day with preliminary competition, with the finals each night set for a 5 p.m. first event.
The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 12 (women) and No. 24 (men) in the first set of CSCAA top-25 Div. II national rankings, bring 13 top-10 seedings into the weekend’s festivities. Both squads used the TYR Cup a season ago as a great chance to earn NCAA qualifying standards, as, a season ago, the teams combined for 20 NCAA-B cuts during the three-day meet. This season, the Bulldog women already have three NCAA-B cuts, as sophomore Nikki Sisson holds one in both the 50 free (24.01; 9th-fastest in NCAA Div. II) and 200 free (1:52.10; 5th-fastest in NCAA Div. II), as does freshman Emma Barnett in the 1000 free (10:23.57; 9th-fastest in NCAA Div. II).
A reminder for fans that an NCAA A-cut time guarantees a place in a heat at the 2016 NCAA Div. II Swimming & Diving Championships, while an NCAA B-cut time makes a swimmer eligible, however does not guarantee a spot in a preliminary heat at the Championships.
This page will be continually updated throughout the weekend with recaps and results. For more information, please visit one of the links at the top of the story which include the full schedule of events, top 2015-16 times by Bulldog swimmers this season, and NCAA Div. II A- and B-cut standard times per event.
Grand Canyon:
EVANSTON, Ill. – The Grand Canyon University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams closed out the Northwestern TYR Invitational today. The men’s squad achieved a second place finish, while the women finished third.
Michigan State won the men’s competition with 1161.5 points. GCU had 1043 and Northwestern finished third at 852. Northwestern led the women’s competition at 1188.5, followed by Michigan State at 962, and Grand Canyon at 735.
The men’s team collected another pair of pool records today, earning them a total of ten for the weekend. They had the record in the 400-free relay at 3:53.37, which swam byIegor Lytvenok, Illya Glazunov, Mazen Elkamash, and Jacob Lambros. Their second record was earned by Daniil Antipov in the 200-fly (1:44.95). Both pool records were also NCAA B times and Antipov’s was a new team record.
Lytvenok had the top time in two individual events—200-back (1:44.40) and 100-IM (48.99). His time in the 200-back was an NCAA B time as was is relay lead-off of 100-free (43.67) in the 400-free relay.
Mazen Elkamash had a team record in his win in the 100-free (43.33). Lambros and Glazunov placed second and third in the same event and all three had NCAA B times. Lambros had a time of 43.83 and Glazunov had a time of 43.99. Mark Nikolaev lead off time in the 400-free relay of 44.11 was also an NCAA B cut time in the 100-free.
Antipov also won the 50-fly with a time of 21.59. Youssef Elkamash won the 200-breast at 2:00.81.
For the women’s team, Iryna Glavnyk had a victory in the 200-back (1:56.27) that was also an NCAA B cut.
Rebecca Coan placed second in the 50-fly (25.06). The women’s squad also had a second place finish in the 400-free relay (3:26.26) with Glavnyk, Celine Schoemans, Jade Howard, and Jovanna Koens swimming the race.
In platform diving, Cody Rankin led with a second place finish of 254.85 while Michael Bidak finished third at 209.50.
“I am very proud and impressed with what we achieved this week,” said head coach Steve Schaffer. “It is without a doubt the best midseason performance we have had in the eight seasons I have been coaching this team. We won 25 of the 50 events – with the men winning 20 of 25 – against Big 10 competition. It was just fantastic. We still have a lot to improve on between now and the WAC Championships, and that’s what we will get to work on this week.”
The next event for both squads will be the AT&T Winter Nationals for USA Swimming on Dec. 3-5 in Seattle, Wash. A full recap will be available at www.gculopes.com.
Swimming news courtesy of Northwestern, Michigan State, Truman State, and Grand Canyon Swimming & Diving.
