Hoosierland Invite - Day One

INDIANA MEN

The Indiana men’s swimming team picked up a pair of victories and two second-place finishes in five events on day one of the Hoosierland Invitational at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center Friday.
 
The meet continues with preliminary and final sessions at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Ante Zoricic, Titus Knight, Tyler Shedron and Bryan Chovanec teamed up for a win in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:23.06. The Hoosiers also took the third spot with Zack Stockman, Daniel Kanorr, Sean Ransenberg and Mark Wetzel touching the wall in 1:25.45.
 
Knight continued his string of top-two finishes in the 500 freestyle, winning the championship heat in 4:29.57, just one second off an NCAA B cut and a season best. Hoosier newcomer Ilya Larin was second in 4:32.74, with Tyler Shedron third (4:33.11). Freshman Bryant Honsa finished sixth in the championship final (4:39.79-season best), with Bart Ginocchio seventh (4:40.96-season best) and Alex Kotliarsky eighth (4:45.06).
 
Austin Steel took second in the 200 individual medley with a season-best time of 1:54.61. Brenden Butler was third in 1:55.26, followed by Aaron Opell in fourth (1:55.94), Tim Blue in fifth (1:56.28), Kevin Happ in sixth (1:57.47), Sam Trahin in seventh (1:58.54-season best) and Tyler Lemert in eighth (2:00.37). Zoricic won the consolation heat with a time of 1:55.98.
 
In the final individual event of the evening, Chovanec tied for third in the 50 free, sprinting to the wall in 21.16. On his heels was Knight in 21.14, with Zoricic sixth (21.26), Shedron seventh (21.53) and Stockman eighth (22.02).
 
Doug Spraul, Opell, Shedron and Knight went 3:23.46 in the 400 medley relay to take first in the championship final. Kevin Happ, Tyler Lemert, Tim Blue and Zoricic were second in 3:26.73. IU also took the fourth and fifth spots with Stockman, Butler, Jon Hueni and Honsa fourth (3:30.53) and Steel, Sean Brown, Christopher Head and Ransenberg fifth (3:28.25).



INDIANA WOMEN

A win by Kate Fesenko in the 500 freestyle and second-place finishes from Allysa Vavra and the 400 medley relay teams highlighted day one of the Hoosierland Invitational Friday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center..
 
The meet continues with preliminary and final sessions at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Fesenko, Taylor Wohrley, Donna Smailis and Margaux Farrell finished second in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:36.24. IU’s quartet of Nikki White, Ashley Jones, Brittany Strumbel and Allysa Vavra were fourth in 1:38.79.
 
Fesenko took first in the next event, the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:50.38. Farrell was second in 4:53.26, with Ashley Jones third (4:53.66). Rounding out the IU championship finalists was White in sixth (4:59.37), Vavra in seventh (5:01.76) and Amilee Smith in eighth (5:02.83-season best). Jones’ time was a personal best, while Vavra’s prelim swim of 4:54.69 was a season best.
 
Vavra led the Hoosiers with second-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:04.09. Strumbel was sixth (2:06.98) and Amilee Smith eighth (2:08.74). Brittany Barwegen won the consolation final in 2:07.85 (season best).
 
In the final individual event of the evening session, Fesenko was the top Hoosier finisher in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.84, good for fourth place. Farrell touched the wall seventh in 24.39. Smailis led the way in the consolation final, taking second in 24.04.
 
Fesenko, Barwegen, Smailis and Strumbel closed the evening with a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay, touching the wall in 3:46.57. Ashley Jones, Amilee Smith, Kim Tracey and Justine Jones teamed up for a fifth-place finish (3:55.21).


NOTRE DAME

The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team won four of five events Friday at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center to kick off the Hoosierland Invitational hosted by Indiana. The meet continues Saturday with the preliminary session starting at 6:00 p.m. (ET). The finals will be held at 6:00.

The Irish posted a number of season-best performances across the board in each event.

“We got off to a good start by putting together a season-best swim in the opening relay with a huge output by Amywren Miller, who had a great split for this point in the season,” Irish head coach Brian Barnes said. “The future for our distance events is in good hands with Gracie Fredlake and Jaime Malandra, and Lauren Sylvester is on the road back to recovery after working through an injury as this was her first true meet since the BIG EAST Championships last year. She had great pace today, and it is only going to get better and better.

“Pat Duret had a great race in the 200 IM, and her personal-best really got the team excited. Zeina Shanata dropped five seconds off her lifetime best and Ashlee Edgell went out and owned the event as well. We almost took the top four spots in the 50 free and capped the evening off with a nice relay win.

“This team is still tired, but that’s alright. We’re conducting ourselves in a great way and feeding off each other’s energy. This can turn out to be a great meet for the program.”

The event is not being scored as unattached and independent athletes are competing in the meet.

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200 Freestyle Relay: The Irish earned first- and third-place honors ... the quartet of Lauren Scott, Kellyn Kuhlke, Delia Cronin and Amywren Miller finished first in a time of 1:33.29 ... the efforts of Meg Reynolds, Keri Masterson, Gina Mancini and Samantha Maxwell resulted in a third place finish with a time of 1:37.46.

500 Freestyle: Gracie Fredlake and Jaime Malandra finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 4:54.64 and 4:58.70 ... Lauren Sylvester placed four in the second heat in 5:05.50.

200 Individual Medley: Ashlee Edgell touched first to claim gold in 2:02.42 ... the Irish then claimed the third, fourth and fifth spots with performances from Megan Farrell (2:04.96), Zeina Shanata (2:05.27) and Emily Barton (2:05.74).

50 Freestyle: The Irish placed five swimmers in the final heat ...  Miller took the win, stopping the clock at 23.12 ... Scott (23.72), Kuhlke (23.77), Delia Cronin (23.85) and Reynolds (24.49) finished second, third, fifth and eighth, respectively.

400 Medley Relay: Kim Holden, Maxwell, Kuhlke and Miller finished the night of with a Notre Dame victory in 3:42.19 ... Masterson, Lizzy Gormley, Scott and Cronin finished third overall in 3:49.22.

1-meter Diving: Natalie Stitt was fifth, Heidi Grossman was sixth and Jenny Chiang took eighth … final scores were not available.