The Virginia Tech men defeated Queens University, and the VT women defeated Queens and University of Richmond at the Hokies’ home opener this evening.
Men’s Meet
The Hokies began the meet with a win in the 400 medley relay, as the Hokies took three of the top four spots. Their “A” team, consisting of Robert Owen, Brandon Fiala, Lucas Bureau, and Adam Stacklin finished in a time of 3:20.87.
Michal Szuba gave the Hokies a victory in the first individual event as well, finishing the 1000 free in 9:12.65. Szuba would complete the distance double later in the afternoon with a victory in the 500 free (4:29.27). Finishing second in that 500 free was Virginia Tech freshman Nathan “Nate Dog” Pawlowicz, who earns a mention here largely due to the fact that his sobriquet actually shows up in the results.
Queens got their first win of the evening in the 200 free, with Dion Dressens touching first in a time of 1:39.40.
The Hokies came back in the next event in dominant fashion, taking the top four spots in the 100 back, with Zach Switzer‘s 50.94 setting the pace.
Rost Fedya of Queens took first in the 100 breast (55.67), but Virginia Tech got wins from Christopher Wang in the 200 fly (1:52.89) and Bureau (20.73) before the first diving break.
Bureau came back after the break to the win the 100 free in 45.20. Teammate Owen won the 200 back (1:49.34) before Fedya completed his double with a 2:04.22 in the 200 breast to give Queens another win.
After Subza’s aforementioned victory in the 500 free, Dressens got his second win of the night with a 49.94 in the 100 fly. Queens would also win the last individual event of the session with Nick Arakelian’s 3:59.48 in the 400 IM.
The Virginia Tech quartet of Fiala, Bureau, Brent Benedict, and Ian Ho finished off the night with a 1:22.27 victory in the 200 free.
Final Score: Virginia Tech 172, Queens 90
Women’s Meet
The Hokie women opened the meet going 1-2 in the 400 medley relay. Auriane de Premilhat, Weronika Paluszek, Maggie Gruber, and Jessica Hespeler led the way with a collective time of 3:45.77.
However, the Queen women scored the first individual event win, as Meredith Boudreaux won the 1000 free in a time of 10:18.85.
Patricia Castro-Ortega gave Queens a second individual victory with a 1:48.39 in the 200 free. Just a few events later she’d get her second win of the meet with a 2:02.83.
In between Castro-Ortega’s two victories, the Hokies swept the top three spots in both the 100 back and the 100 breast, led by Klaudia Naieblo’s 55.35 in the former, and Palusek’s 1:03.40 in the latter.
Melissa Ross’s swam a 2:04.80 to place second in the 200 fly, tied for the highest individual finish for any of the Richmond women this evening.
Queens took the last race before the first break, courtesy of Kyrie Dobson‘s 23.88 in the 50 free.
Castro-Ortega continued her winning ways after the break with a 51.30 in the 100 free. Dobson touched second in 51.30.
Caroline Arakelian preserved the Queens winning streak in the 200 back, touching with a time of 2:00.19.
Virginia Tech finally got another individual victory as Palusek won the 200 breast in 2:15.61, giving her a breaststroke sweep for the meet. The Hokies got a winning streak going, as Sydney Peseta followed that victory with one of her own in the 500 free (5:02.57) and Maggie Gruber took the 100 fly with a 55.90. Kelley Yang got Richmond’s other second place finish of the evening in the 100 fly, finishing behind Gruber with a 57.73. Fiona Donnelly made it four in a row for the Hokies with a 4:26.61 to win the 400 IM.
Queens halted the Virginia Tech winning streak by finishing the evening with first place in the 200 free relay. Ortega, Dobson, Mary Beaver, and Shelly Prayson took the win with a 1:35.32.
Final Results:
Virginia Tech 237, Richmond 62
Virginia Tech 188, Queens 106
Queens 188, Richmond 106
Complete results can be found here.
