2023 COLLEGE CLUB SWIMMING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
- Friday, March 31 – Sunday, April 2, 2023
- McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Columbus, OH
- SCY (25 yards)
- Live Results + Psych and Heat Sheets
- Live results also available on MeetMobile: “2023 CCS National Championship”
- Meet Central
- Day 1 Recap
TEAM SCORES THRU DAY TWO (TOP 5)
COMBINED
- Purdue – 843
- UVA – 833.5
- Michigan State – 774.5
- Georgia Tech – 617
- Cal – 573
WOMEN
- UVA – 543.5
- Michigan State – 416
- Cal – 316
- Georgia Tech – 255
- Wisconsin – 244
MEN
- Purdue – 633
- Liberty – 447.5
- Georgia Tech – 362
- Michigan State – 358.5
- UVA – 290
Through the second day of the Collegiate Club Swimming National Championships, Purdue has taken control of the combined team race, sitting 9.5 points ahead of UVA with one day left. Purdue’s gains were thanks to an expanding lead in the men’s team standings, where Purdue is now 185 points ahead of Liberty. Meanwhile, UVA has taken firm control of the women’s team battle, opening up a 127.5-point lead over Michigan State.
Michigan State’s Kasey Venn had another fantastic day, winning two individual events and helping an MSU relay to victory. In the 200 IM, Venn split 26.98 on fly and 32.91 on back for a 59.89 on the opening 100. She then blew the race wide open on the breaststroke leg, where she split 35.50. Venn then came home in 30.80, finishing in 2:06.19 to claim the win.
Venn would then go on to win the women’s 100 breast in 1:03.37.
Venn also helped Michigan State’s 200 medley relay to victory. The women’s 200 medley relay was a thrilling race, seeing MSU, Ohio State, and UVA all separated by just 0.15 seconds. Venn was huge for Michigan State, getting them out to a lead thanks to a 26.21 backstroke split. Ohio State’s Cate O’Haimhirgin then threw down a 28.54 breast split, leading the field by far. Virginia made up some ground on the fly leg, thanks to Dana Korotovskikh‘s 25.70 fly split.
Here is a split comparison between Michigan State, Ohio State, and Virginia:
| Split | Michigan State | Ohio State | Virginia |
| Back | Kasey Venn (26.21) | Lexi Gilley (28.47) | Kimberly Warnagiris (27.47) |
| Breast | Sarah Anderson (30.95) | Cate O’Haimhirgin (28.54) | Emma Mitchell (30.60) |
| Fly | Sydney Kelly (26.37) | Kasey Lichtner (26.19) | Dana Korotovskikh (25.70) |
| Free | Sheridan Phalen (23.81) | Haylee Howard (24.26) | Alexa Owen (23.72) |
| FINAL TIME | 1:47.34 | 1:47.46 | 1:47.49 |
The men’s 200 medley relay was also a very close race involving Michigan State. Purdue won the race in 1:29.32, touching just 0.03 seconds ahead of MSU. Michigan State was out in front with Evan Stanislaw clocking a 22.90 on backstroke and Travis Nitkiewicz splitting 24.55 on breaststroke, compared to Concalo Walker‘s 23.74 and Fenry Zhou‘s 24.85 on Purdue’s relay. Purdue then battled back on the back half, with Kellen Reese throwing down a 21.09 fly split and Bebe Wang anchoring in a sizzling 19.64. Michigan State’s Stephan Freitah split 21.91 on fly and Matthew Lee was 19.99 on free.
Michigan State’s Travis Nitkiewicz was another two-event winner on the day. Nitkiewicz won the men’s 200 IM in 1:50.61, leading UVA’s Emmett Hannam by 0.19 seconds. The pair swam stroke-for-stroke on the first 100, where Nitkiewicz split 24.42 on fly and 28.65 on back, while Hannam was 24.43 and 28.67. Nitkiewicz then pulled ahead considerably on breaststroke, splitting 31.22 to Hannam’s 31.85. Hannam brought it home in 25.85 on freestyle, eating into Nitkiewicz’s lead, but ultimately touched just behind him at the finish.
Nitkiewicz also would go on to win the men’s 100 breast, swimming a 54.84.
Hannam went on to win the men’s 200 free, swimming a 1:40.68. It was yet another shockingly close race, with Hannam touching out Liberty’s Whittman Brown by just 0.01 seconds. Purdue’s Alex Helwig (1:40.75) and Penn State’s Henry Radzikowski (1:40.95) were just 0.07 and 0.27 seconds off Hannam’s time respectively. With so much going on that race, here is a split comparison between the four swimmers.
| Split | Emmett Hannam (UVA) | Whittman Brown (Liberty) | Alex Helwig (Purdue) | Henry Radzikowski (Penn State) |
| 50 | 23.37 | 23.21 | 23.63 | 23.75 |
| 100 | 48.80 (25.43) | 48.60 (25.39) | 49.29 (25.66) | 49.18 (25.43) |
| 150 | 1:15.24 (26.44) | 1:14.38 (25.78) | 1:15.16 (25.87) | 1:15.42 (26.24) |
| 200 | 1:40.68 (25.44) | 1:40.69 (26.31) | 1:40.75 (25.59) | 1:40.95 (25.53) |
| FINAL TIME | 1:40.68 | 1:40.69 | 1:40.75 | 1:40.95 |
Brown was in the lead for the majority of the race, flipping at the 150-yard turn in the lead by nearly a second. He faded on the final 50, however, while Hannam sped up, and Brown ended up getting touched out by the slimmest of margins.
USC’s Billy Cruz Zuniga was on fire on Saturday as well, winning two events. Cruz had previously competed on USC’s varsity team, where he competed at the 2021 NCAA Championships on the Trojans’ 400 free relay. Last night, Cruz won the men’s 50 fly in 21.53, winning the race by 0.32 seconds
Cruz then went on to throw down a 19.94 in the men’s 50 free, winning that race by 0.21 seconds.
DAY TWO EVENT WINNERS
- Women’s 200 medley relay: Michigan State (Kasey Venn, Sarah Anderson, Sydney Kelly, Sheridan Phalen) – 1:47.34
- Men’s 200 medley relay: Purdue (Goncalo Walker, Fenry Zhou, Kellen Reese, Bebe Wang) – 1:29.32
- Women’s 50 fly: Salli Lubbe (Denver) – 25.80
- Men’s 50 fly: Billy Cruz Zuniga (USC) – 21.53
- Women’s 200 IM: Kasey Venn (Michigan State) – 2:06.19
- Men’s 200 IM: Travis Nitkiewicz (Michigan State) – 1:50.61
- Women’s 50 free: Elena Booher (Purdue) – 24.37
- Men’s 50 free: Billy Cruz Zuniga (USC) – 19.94
- Women’s 100 breast: Kasey Venn (Michigan State) – 1:03.37
- Men’s 100 breast: Travis Nitkiewicz (Michigan State) – 54.84
- Women’s 200 free: Sophie Klube (Cal) – 1:54.18
- Men’s 200 free: Emmett Hannam (UVA) – 1:40.68
- Women’s 100 back: Elsa Huebsch (UNC) – 57.09
- Men’s 100 back: Matthew Davidson (Liberty) – 48.76
- Women’s 400 free relay: UVA (Sarah Arnold, Corinna Fultz, Alexa Owen, Anna Sheng) – 3:34.66
- Men’s 400 free relay: Michigan State (Stephan Freitah, Peter Corsetti, Matthew Lee, Evan Stanislaw) – 3:01.81
Matthew lee: relay monster. Anyone who watched him in high school knows this. Such a raw talent.
Lots of very strong swims, and many of these athletes are only training a few days per week and are mostly self-coached. College club swimming has definitely become a viable option for elite athletes looking for more options when selecting a college as well as balancing academic commitments. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few Trials qualifiers in the college club ranks in the near future.
Seriously gotta wonder why Cruz isn’t competing for the varsity team. The Trojan men only had 2 men sub-20 this season, he would have been a big help. Glad to see he’s swimming well. Is this the first time a swimmer has gone sub-20 at college club nationals?
Yes it was a meet record
It may just have been a personal decision that he doesn’t want to train as much as the varsity team requires or he wasn’t enjoying that challenge of the grind anymore.
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Not that this is a 100% true indicator but seeing if the times for his longer races (100’s) are what you would expect maybe gives a clue. If his 50’s are fast but the 100’s arent, my guess is the young man isn’t interested in putting in the time to be on the varsity team (which would probably require someone to try do more than just a 19.9 50 free, especially for scoring roster purposes)
And if that’s his decision then that’s perfectly fine! Still fun… Read more »
it was not his decision and he is likely better off for it (the men’s team performance this year under lea maurer). he is getting private training and doing the club on the side for fun
former usc/swim12341 – please stick to one name within any given commenting section. Thanks!
Wasn’t he kicked off by Maurer
This is what I was getting at… there’ve been multiple sources on this forum that’ve said so. Doesn’t seem to make much sense for Maurer to cut a swimmer that’d be so beneficial to the relays even if he just has the 50 free. The Trojan relays were god awful this season.
Billy is a great guy and amazing swimmer. He was cut by Lea for no other reason than she didn’t like him. He’s doing much better training on his own/with the club. He’s untapered here so watch out for him at mexican nationals
Good luck to him in his journey hate to see a swimmer who has the desire and talent get denied
Unfortunately Head Coach Lea Maurer denied him the opportunity, so sad to see such a talented swimmer being denied of the opportunity just because she didn’t like him.
Excellent swimmer, unfortunately even when he’s enter the portal no one decide to reach out to provide Billy the opportunity he deserves.
My guess he still has a lot to offer and with the right person he can untapped his talent and provide the proper results.
These swimmers have so much talent..why don’t they swim on actual teams instead of clubs? Legit question.
Some are late bloomers and get significantly faster in college, some want a balance between swim/academics that you don’t always get when you have a varsity program dictating your training/travel schedule, and some just don’t like practicing 20 hours a week. NCAA swimming is a massive commitment and CCS is a way to keep going with the sport at your own intensity
To add onto this, in the case of a team like Michigan State, many of their top dogs are from their D1 roster that was cut. So some swimmers join just because they still enjoy swimming
To add a few reasons:
1. I did NCAA swimming. Now I do college club swimming. I enjoyed NCAA swimming but moved on because of other commitments. Turns out club swimming is just as (if not more) fun.
2. If you’re a swimmer who is always on the bubble for making relays or making the scoring team, it’s a lot more fun and less anxiety-inducing to be on a team where you can contribute at every meet and complete a whole season!
3. There are some swimmers who were burnt out after high school, took a break, then found their love for swimming again with club swimming + likely now have a healthier relationship with the sport.
4. Interestingly,… Read more »