Iowa Men
The University of Iowa men’s swimming and diving team posted the second-fastest time in school history during the opening day of the Hawkeye Invitational. The Hawkeyes sit in third place with 138.5 points following the Friday’s competition.
Michigan is leading the five-team field with 387 points, followed by Notre Dame (205.5), Iowa (138.5), Denver (114) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (102).
“We had a lot of great swims,” said UI head coach Marc Long. “We haven’t had very many events, but I like where we’re headed. We’re swimming well, diving well. It should be an exciting next two days.”
Iowa posted its top performance in the evening’s final race, the 400 medley relay. The Hawkeye quartet of sophomore Grant Betulius, freshman Roman Trussov and seniors Byron Butler and Jordan Huff posted a time of 3:12.71. The time is the second fastest in school history and the fourth-best nationally in 2012-13.
“It’s way ahead of last year’s (time),” said Long. “We’re happy with the time, of course, you always want to win. Michigan is putting up times that are No. 1 in the country. We want to step up and beat them. We like the time, but we’re trained to race.”
Iowa also got a fourth-place finish by its “B” 400 medley relay. Juniors Dustin Rhoads and Andrew Marciniak, freshman David Ernstsson and junior Gianni Sesto swam to a time of 3:16.52, the seventh fastest time in the UI record books.
The Hawkeyes opened Saturday’s final with a pair of top-six finishes in the 200 freestyle relay. Iowa’s “A” relay featuring sophomore Brian Donatelli, Huff, Betulius, and Sesto posted a season-best time of 1:20.55 to finish fourth. The Hawkeye “B” relay consisting of freshmen Jackson Allen, Ernstsson, senior Mitch Taylor and Rhoads touched the wall with the sixth-fastest time in 1:21.53.
Iowa got a fifth place showing by freshman Addison Boschult in the 3-meter springboard. The Omaha, Neb., native finished with a total of 308.20 points, a career-best score.
The Hawkeyes were represented by a pair of student-athletes in the “B” final of the 500 freestyle. Junior Manuel Belzer posted an NCAA “B” standard en route to a second place finish in his heat and a 10th place showing overall. Belzer posted a season-best time of 4:24.68. Senior Patrick Weigand clocked a time of 4:32.69 to finish 15th.
Junior Tyler Lentz tallied a seventh place finish to lead the Hawkeyes in the 200 IM, posting a time of 1:48.93. The Hawkeyes’ Kyle Noser was 14th overall in 1:53.28, while freshmen Quillan Oak and Matthew Boyd were 17th and 21st, respectively. Oak won the “C” final, touching out in 1:52.13, while Boyd was fifth in his heat in 1:52.45.
Iowa had five competitors finish among the top-14 in the 50-free. Huff placed eighth in the “A” final with a time of 20.66. Donatelli sprinted to a win in the “B” final in 20.63 seconds, followed by Betulius (20.78, 10th), Sesto (20.92, 12th) and freshman Jackson Allen (20.97, 14th). All five competitors posted season-best times during the preliminaries.
Iowa Women
University of Iowa freshman Olivia Kabacinski sprinted to a school record in the 50 freestyle during the opening day of the Hawkeye Invitational on Friday at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. The Hawkeyes are currently in tied for second place in the seven-team field.
“We had a lot of great swims,” said UI head coach Marc Long. “Becky’s (Stoughton) win was good to see, she has been working hard this semester, and it is good to see her in racing action again. There is a lot of great action, some of the best swimming in the country, if not the world as far as some of the competitors here.”
Michigan is leading the Invitational with 237.5 points, followed by Nebraska (171), Iowa (171), Northwestern (159.5), Denver (90), Washington State (88), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (79) and Notre Dame (52).
Kabacinski swam to the school record during the morning preliminaries, posting a time of 22.88. Kabacinski, the first Hawkeye to break the 23 second mark, bested Stacey Wertz’s record of 23.02, which had stood since 2000. The freshman ended up finishing third overall in the event with a time of 23.06 during Friday night’s final.
“It was a really good start to the meet and a good start to my freshman career,” said freshman Olivia Kabacinski of the school record. “I had a good start and was catching water really well; it was my fastest time ever, so I’m really excited about it.”
Sophomore Heather Arseth also tallied a top 10 finish in the 50 free, touching the wall in 23.57. Arseth swam a personal best of 23.41 during the prelims.
Iowa had two of the top-four finishes in the 500 freestyle. Sophomore Becky Stoughton overtook Michigan’s Adrienne Bicek in the final 20 yards to claim the title in the 500 free in 4:43.20. Her time is a meet record, an NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time, and ranks 12th fastest nationally. Junior Lindsay Seemann finished in fourth in the event with a time of 4:50.76, the fifth fastest in school history.
Kabacinski also helped the Hawkeyes to a pair of top-five finishes in the 400 medley and 200 free relays. Iowa closed out the night with a third place finish in the 400 medley relay when Arseth, junior Karolina Wartalowicz, junior Abbey Tuchscherer, and Kabacinski posted a time of 3:42.52.The time is the third fastest in school history.
In the 200 free relay, Kabacinski, Arseth, junior Elise Borja, and freshman Maddie Bro touched the wall in 1:32.90 to finish fifth. The time ranks as the third fastest in the record books.
Junior Emily Hovren posted an eighth place finish in the 200 IM, finishing with a finals time of 2:04.35. During Friday’s morning prelims, Hovren swam a personal best time of 2:02.47.
Junior Lauren Kelba posted season best score in the 1-meter springboard, accumulating a score of 267.55 to finish sixth overall. Redshirt sophomore Joelle Christy also advanced to the final, where she placed eighth with 227.35 points.
Notre Dame Men
The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team completed the opening round of competition in second place Friday at the Hawkeye Invitational at the University of Iowa Aquatic Center.
The No. 19 Fighting Irish finished the first wave of events with 205.5 team points to claim runner-up honors behind the defending meet champion and national No. 1 University of Michigan.
Junior All-American Frank Dyer was the first in the water for the Notre Dame 200 free relay team that earned second-place points. Dyer later posted an NCAA B-cut time of 4:20.63 in a runner-up effort in the 500 free.
Sophomore Zachary Stephens earned the secondFighting Irish B-cut of the day with a 1:48.02 swim in the 200 IM to tie Michigan’s John Wojciechowski for third place. Junior Colin Babcock rounded out the top-five with a time of 1:48.16, also good enough for an NCAA B-cut.
Day two of the Hawkeye Invitational is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (ET) Saturday with preliminary heats. Event finals are slated to begin at 7 p.m.
Event-By-Event:
200 Free Relay: The Notre Dame entry of Dyer, Stephens, Kevin Overholt and Bill Bass clocked a time of 1:19.56 to earn runner-up honors. Bogac Ayhan, Christopher Johnson, John McGinley and Matt Buerger touched in at 1:23.28 for 10th place.
500 Free: Dyer’s time of 4:20.63 was nearly 10 seconds better than his previous season-best swim in the event set against Louisville (Nov. 10). Brennan Jacobsen was the second Notre Dame team member to earn points, logging a time of 4:32.29. Michael Hudspith clocked in at 4:35.94 to round out the scoring for the Fighting Irish.
200 IM: Stephens’ time of 1:48.02 was narrowly off his career-best in the 200 IM, set at lastseason’s BIG EAST Championships (1:47.71). Babcock’s fifth-place swim was his season-best time in the event. Bertie Nel touched the wall in 1:49.32 for 10th place, while Patrick Olson was right behind in the 11th position (1:49.78).
50 Free: Dyer narrowly missed an NCAA B-cut with his sixth-place finish in 20.21. Overholt also earned points for the Fighting Irish with a time of 21.06.
3M Dive: Nick Nemetz claimed second place with a cumulative score of 323.20 points. Ted Wagner took home fourth place (308.20), followed by Ryan Koter (299.35).
400 Medley Relay: The Notre Dame lineup of Nel, Miller, Dyer and McGinley logged a time of 3:18.99 to pace the Fighting Irish.
Nebraska
The Nebraska swimming and diving team began competition in the Hawkeye Invitational at the University of Iowa’s Campus Recreation and Wellness Center on Friday.
Nebraska started the evening’s finals with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Ariel Weech, Hayley Martin, Shannon Guy, and Taryn Collura edged out Michigan by 71 hundredths of a second as they finished with a time of 1:31.07.
In the second finals event, Bailey Pons took third in the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 4:48.32. Katt Sickle and Morgan Flannigan finished eleventh and thirteen in the event, respectively.
In the diving well, Payton Michaud took seventh place in the one-meter dive with a score of 261.35. Nicole Schwery, Kailey Harmon, and Amy Herman finished tenth, 13th, and 16th, respectively.
Hayley Martin finished fourth (23.07), Taryn Collura fifth (23.15), and Ariel Weech sixth (23.17) in the 50-yard freestyle finals. Shannon Guy placed ninth. The Huskers finished the day with a fifth place finish in the 400-yard medley relay.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Emily McClellan broke a school record in one race, Nathan Welchlin came in seventh in another and every swimmer posted a season-best time and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's swimming & diving teams had a strong showing at the first day of the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational Friday at the Campus Fitness and Wellness Center.
After the first day, Milwaukee's women's team sits in seventh with 79 points. Michigan leads the way with 237.5. The Panther men's team is fifth with 102 points. Michigan again is in first with 387 points.
"We are really proud of the effort the team put forth today," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Clements said. "We still have two more days of work to do, but it is so nice to see all of our hard work this season starting to pay off."
McClellan broke her own school record in the 200 IM with an NCAA B-cut time of 1:59.30 in final to take second. Junior Diana Diel swam in the B-final of the night, taking 15th with a time of 2:05.47.
Welchlin nearly broke the school record in the 50 free with a season-best time of 20.45, moving up from eighth to seventh in the A-final. Senior Mike Schalla came in 16th in the B-final at 21.30.
The women's 400 medley relay team of Becky Yokosh, Sierra Townsend, McClellan and Diel took second overall with a time of 3:42.20, just shy of a school record.
Townsend, McClellan and Diel teamed up with sophomore Anna Yontz in the 200 freestyle relay and touched the wall at 1:33.38 for sixth place, also just behind the UWM record.
On the men's side, Mike Brady, David Dvorak, Schalla and Welchlin combined to take seventh in the 200 free relay with a season-best time of 1:22.20. Dvorak later joined Sam Niesen, J.J. Melville and Ryan Finke in the 400 medley relay to take 12th at 3:24.58.
In diving, freshman Will Sass made the final on the three-meter board, finishing with a season-best score of 269.25 for eighth overall. Andy LaFleur (259.60) just missed the final at ninth. For the women, freshman Rachel Margis led the way on the one-meter board with a score of 222.95, good enough for 18th overall.
Freshman Nic Halverson also swam in a final, taking 24th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:33.51. Brady, Tim Halverson, Kenny Stelpflug, Finke, Jeff Maxwell, Brian Verink, Chris Jenkyns and Matt Martin all also posted season-best results in the event.
The Panthers also had 11 season-best marks in the women's 500 free, led by freshman Kelsey Abbas with a time of 5:05.64.
Washington State
The Washington State swim team currently sits in sixth place after the first day of competition at the Hawkeye Invitational, Friday.
In the championship meet style tournament, the Cougars competed with host Iowa, Denver, Michigan, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Nebraska-Lincoln and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The morning meet consisted of preliminaries, in which nine Washington State swimmers qualified for the finals which took place in the evening.
Senior Shelbi Luchini finished eighth overall in the preliminary rounds in the 200 IM posting a time of 2:03.03. Junior Kelly Tannhauser finished tenth in the in the same event with a time of 2:03.58. In the 50 free prelims, Emma Johansson posted the eighth fastest time to earn a spot in the finals (23.22).
Other Cougars to qualify for the finals were Heather Morlan, Loree Olson, and Tannhauser in the 500 free. Anne Kenney, Bieleckaite, Nicole Proulx and Alison Mand all qualified for the 50 free final.
In the finals the WSU relay comprised of Johansson, Bieleckaite, Kenney, and Proulx finished fourth overall in the 200 free relay (1:32.75). Luchini shined in the 200 IM final posting the seventh fastest time in the event (2:04.30). Johansson added to the Cougar point total finishing seventh in the 50 free final (23.19).
After day one of three in the tournament, the Cougars are sixth overall with a team score of 88. Currently, Michigan is leading the competition, posting a team score of 237.
Notre Dame Women
University of Notre Dame divers Jenny Chiang and Allison Casareto went one and two in the 1-meter competition Friday night at the University of Iowa Aquatic Center.
Chiang continued her winning ways as she breezed to the win with 316.80 points. Casareto then handily took second with 299.60 points. Freshman Emma Gaboury took fourth with 272.95 points.
