Ohio State Wins 4 Events on First Day of CSCAA National Champs

2019 NATIONAL INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

• March 14th-16th, 2019
• Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio
• 2018 Results
• Championship Central
• List of participating teams
• Psych Sheet
• Live Stream (streamed on Facebook Live)
• Day 1 Results

TOP TEAM SCORES (POST-DAY 1)

WOMEN

1. Rice – 207
2. Akron – 190
3. Oakland – 149.5
4. San Jose State – 146.5
5. Florida International – 146

MEN

1. Cal Baptist – 269.5
2. IU – 224
3. Ohio State – 191
4. TCU – 183.5
5. Grand Canyon – 183

The first day of the CSCAA National Invitational Championship kicked off on Thursday in Cleveland. Cal Baptist is leading the men’s meet after the first of 3 days of competition, while Rice is leading the women’s meet. Participation in the meet this year is up significantly over last year, and it resulted in several exciting races. One such race was the last of the night, the women’s 400 medley relay, where the top 3 finishers were separated by just 0.36 seconds. Florida International led from the 50 mark to the 350 mark, but Akron anchor Morgan Waggoner threw down a 25.25 on the final 50 to run down both FIU and Oakland’s anchors. Akron got its hand on the wall first touching in 3:39.54, with FIU coming in 2nd at 3:39.64, and Oakland touching 3rd in 3:39.90. Akron broke the meet record.

IU broke the meet and pool records in the men’s 400 medley relay with their winning time of 3:10.13. Jacob Steele led off the relay in 4655, while Brock Brown split 52.84 on the breast split, Zachary Cook split 48.00 on fly, and Griffin Eiber anchored in 42.74. They had the fastest split in the field on every leg except fly. CSU Bakersfield’s flyer, Loren Gillilan, had the fastest split in the field, clocking a 47.13.

This year, the meet is featuring 50s of the strokes (other than freestyle) for the first time, so each 50 event winner also established a meet record. Loren Gillilan won the 50 fly earlier in the night. Gillilan posted a 21.48, edging out Cal Baptist’s Josh Walters, who swam a 21.64. New Mexico’s Hedda Oritsland won the women’s 50 fly. Oritsland swam a 23.83, narrowly getting her hands on the wall just before CSU Bakersfield’s Autumn D’Arcy (23.85).

Ohio State’s Hudson McDaniel took the men’s 50 breast, swimming a 24.22, while Elsa Lindberg of Washington State won the women’s 50 breast in 28.10 Washington State, in its first year under head coach Matt Leach, had its first NCAA qualifier since 2010, and now has a CSCAA NIC champion as well. Ohio State claimed another victory, coming in the men’s 500 free, where Nick Hogsed sped to a 4:20.97, beating George Washington’s Moritz Fath (4:21.28). Rice’s Ellery Parish won the women’s 500 by over a second, swimming a 4:44.77.

Ohio State picked up a 3rd men’s victory, this one coming in the 50 back, where RJ Kondalski sped to a 21.25, winning by half a second. His time was actually faster than Ohio State’s lead-off leg on the 200 medley relay at the Big Ten champs was by 0.23 seconds. The Buckeyes picked up a women’s victory as well, with Devin Landstra taking the women’s 50 back with a 24.70. She was the only swimmer in the field under 25 seconds.

IU grabbed a pair of victories in the 200 IMs. Thomas Vanderbrook got out to the early lead thanks to a 48.72 on the first 100, and held on to win in a season best of 1:44.05. Abigail Kirkpatrick won the women’s 200 IM, clocking a 1:59.01. She also got out to an early lead and held on to win the event.