South Carolina Winter Invitational
- January 25th-26th, 2019
- Columbia, SC
- Day One Results
South Carolina hosts the 2019 S.C Winter Invitational in Columbia, SC. South Carolina will also compete alongside D1 school UNC-Wilmington and D2 schools Wingate and Queens (NC).
After day one, 4 NCAA Div I “B” cuts were achieved, in addition to an NCAA Div II “A” cut from Queens senior Polina Lapshina in the 100 free (49.33). This marks an in-season best for Lapshina and maintains her #1 ranking in Div II for the 2018-19 season. Her top time is a converted SCM time from the Russian SC Championships from November 2018, which is a 48.85, but the 49.33 is her best yards swim so far.
More “B” cuts went to South Carolina swimmers Emma Barksdale (200 IM, 1:59.45), Melinda Novoszath (200 fly, 1:59.22), and Fynn Minuth (200 fly, 1:46.18). In that same men’s 200 fly race, Queens senior Alex Kunert was neck and neck with Minuth all the way to the finish. Despite being out-touched, Kunert’s time of 1:46.42 was good enough for both an Div I and Div II “B” cut. This in-season best time for Kunert is now just 1.31 seconds of the Div II “A” cut of 1:45.11.
Other Day 1 Highlights:
The first event of the invite was an exciting race between the South Carolina and Queens women’s 200 free relays. The splits were almost dead even, but South Carolina had the slight edge over Queens to out-touch the D2 team 1:33.65 to 1:33.72. On a different note, the Queens men’s 200 free relay dominated the event, winning by over 2 seconds with a 1:21.47.
In the men’s 200 IM, Marius Kuch (1:51.16) and Jan Delkeskamp (1:52.84) went a Queens 1-2 finish. Despite a blistering 26.34 free split, South Carolina’s Ben Fenwick (1:52.86) took third behind Delkeskamp by only 0.02 seconds.
The women’s 500 free featured South Carolina’s Kate Sanderson and Queens’ Francesca Bains distanced from the rest of the field throughout the race. Sanderson would take the win in a 4:57.13, Bains finished right behind in a 4:58.40. Both swimmers were the only women under the 5-minute mark.
Before his season-best in the 200 fly, Queens’ Kunert and teammate Luke Erwee had a thrilling battle with South Carolina’s Rafael Davila. In a sprint effort, Kunert’s 25.15 last 50 split aided him to the win with a 4:27.85. Taking second was teammate Erwee (4:28.44), who aided in a second Queens 1-2 finish. Also breaking 4:30 in third place was Davila (4:28.99).
Ana Menendez Nava of South Carolina continued the women’s winning streak with her win in the 100 breast (1:03.29). Lionel Khoo, also of South Carolina, broke the Queens men’s winning streak when he took the men’s 100 breast in a 54.35.
Flip onto the backstroke and double the distance, Mari Kraus of South Carolina kept the streak alive and won the 200 back with a 2:01.97. After Khoo’s South Carolina win in the 100 breast, Queens’ Baptiste Leger answered back with a dominating 1:47.66 200 back time, winning by over 3 seconds. Behind Leger was teammate Alen Mosic (1:50.03), who aided yet another Queens 1-2 finish.
In the men’s 100 free, Brody Heck (44.93) and Dima Sydorchenko (45.50) created the fourth Queens 1-2 finish of the invite so far. Taking third place to stop a 1-2-3 finish was Wingate’s Lukas Kraft (45.88).
In the final event of day one, the South Carolina women’s 400 medley relay took the win with a 3:43.62. In the men’s 400 medley relay, a power-foursome of Queens’ Kusch, Delkeskamp, Kunert, and Heck dominated the event with a time of 3:16.44.
The second day of the invite picks up tomorrow, with the South Carolina senior recognition ceremony beginning at 9:45 am and events starting shortly after at 10 am.
