Miami University soared to a victory at the Miami Invitational in a crowded field.
The RedHawks finished with 2409 total points after three days of competitive swimming. They defeated Toledo (1554), Cincinnati (1523.5), Emory (1496), Denison (1456.5), Wright State (759) and Urbana (162).
The 1650-yard freestyle was a big success, with senior Stephanie Pearce finishing in first place, clocking in at 16:46.46. Freshman Shay Spelman finished in 16:53.27, earning her a fourth- place finish. Junior Kelly Rogers swam fast enough for sixth in the event, touching the wall in 16:55.83. The trio earned the RedHawks 90 team points.
Sophomore Stephanie LeMire swam to a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke by finishing in 2:13.41, only .80 seconds off the meet record. Freshman Holly Schuster clocked in at 2:18.09, good enough for fourth place.
As for diving, sophomore Taylor LeCount came in first place in the 1-meter dive. She scored a 267.15, over ten points better than the second-place finisher.
Junior Michele Rielly took second place in the 200-yard backstroke (2:00.21), earning herself 30 points for Miami. Freshman Katie Kuhl (2:02.39) and senior Katie Bootsma (2:02.56) earned seventh and eighth place, respectively.
Sophomore Elise Campbell (50.88) swam for fourth place and senior Annie Marquiss (51.12) earned sixth place in the 100-yard freestyle.
Junior Emma Szczupakiewicz earned 24 points for Miami by coming in eighth place in the 200-yard butterfly (2:07.11).
The last event of the 2014 Miami Invitational was the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Elise Campbell, LeMire, Schuster and Marquiss swam a 3:24.62, earning them third place. Sophomore Brittany Dudzinski, freshman Casey Frazier, junior Stephanie Nemeth and Kuhl took fifth place with a time of 3:27.28. The teams earned a combined 112 points for Miami.
"This was the first time we swam in a conference meet format this year," stated head coach Mark Davis, "We had them swim a lot of races, and plus the stress of having finals next week, they were put in the situation we want them to be in. They did a wonderful, unbelievalbe job."
The RedHawks have over a month off until they swim at Cincinnati on Jan. 10 at 1 p.m.
Miami swimming and diving finished off the third and final day of the Miami Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Nixon Aquatic Center. The RedHawks finished off the three day competition in fifth place with a total of 1254 points.
Senior Joe Baumgartner took first in the 100-yard freestyle, edging out the competition by .21 seconds with his time of 44.71. Sophomore Lucas Brock also earned points for the RedHawks with his 13th-place finish in the same event. Brock’s final time was 46.31.
Junior Heshan Unamboowe led the RedHawks in the 200-yard backstroke with his tenth-place finish. Unamboowe clocked a time of 1:50.67. Junior Sean Neri followed in 12th, junior Davis Staley in 14th, junior Jake Prodoehl in 16th and sophomore Jack Strauss in 17th.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, junior Evan Bader took 11th-place, clocking a time of 2:04.89. Bader was followed by sophomore Matthew Rigali in 19th and senior Sam Crockett in 21st.
In the 1650-yard freestyle, sophomore Bryan McNamara earned 15th with his time of 16:18.40.
The diving team wrapped up the competition with the three-meter finals. Sophomore Brian Donohue placed third with his score of 291.35 points. Behind Donohue was junior Cole Fryman in fifth, sophomore Sean Sargent in sixth, and junior Michael Nash followed in tenth, respectively.
In the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Miami A-relay team finished in eight place with a final time of 3:05.76. The A-relay team was comprised of Baumgartner, Brock, junior Chris Dieter, and freshman Ross Westrick.
At the end of the meet, the final team standings were Denison in first with a final score of 2314.5, UC with 2130.5 points, Wright State with 1553 points, Emory in fourth with 1451 points, Miami in fifth with a final score of 1254 and Urbana in sixth with 308 total points.
The RedHawks’ next meet is on Saturday, Jan. 10, when men’s swimming and diving takes on the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Keatings Aquatic Center at 1 p.m.
