After a day and a half of delays, the Appalachian Swimming Conference Championships got underway in Christiansburg, Va Friday afternoon, albeit on a modified schedule. With all sessions being timed finals, athletes knew that their opportunities for success were limited and that did not stop the athletes for making first session an exciting one.
The Notre Dame College Falcons raced to victory in tonight's opening event in the 200 Freestyle Relay. The quartet of Sarah Reichman, Emma Hartings, Jenna Reichman, and Raquel Loustau touched the wall first with a new meet record of 1:37.78. This was the third year in a row in which NDC has won this event and eclipsed the record set in 2012 by NDC. Following behind the Falcons were the Golden Tigers of Brenau University in second and the Eagles of Asbury University in 1:42.10 in third. On the men's side, the Mars Hill University Lions moved up from a third place finish a year ago to capture the opening relay. The foursome of Hudson Tucker, Tre Mason, Mladen Senicar, and Drew Rosser tied the meet record of 1:24.46. Finishing in second were the Blue Knights of Urbana University in 1:25.82 and placing in third were the Cardinals of Wheeling Jesuit University.
As the meet moved onto the individual events, it became evident that the meet delay and lack of access to swimming facilities would take its toll on those swimmers in the longer events. There were a large number of athletes in the 500 that were off of their seed times yet the races were still able to provide plenty of action. On the women's side, Courtney Hayward of Brenau took first and set a new meet record of 5:04.39. The 2013 champion, Vanessa Gipson of Wheeling Jesuit was second in 5:11.67; Kelsi Turk of Notre Dame took home third place in 5:18.87. The men's 500 featured a tight battle between two freshman. Matheus Montarroyos of West Virginia University Institute of Technology and Bradley Moore of Union College turned at the 450 separated by 0.04. Montarroyos used a final 50 split of 25.89 to swim to victory in 4:38.47 with Moore touching at 4:40.25. Henrique Fructuozo of Wheeling Jesuit, who was looking to win this event four years in a row, finished third in 4:48.51.
After winning the 500 Freestyle, the Brenau Golden Tigers would use that momentum by taking their second first-place of the evening in the 200 Individual Medley. Mary Katharine Jabbia would move up from a fourth place finish in 2013 to win in 2:09.13. Meghan Ebbert of Wheeling Jesuit took home second in 2:12.09 and Jennifer Schwartz of Urbana placed third in 2:14.69. The Men's 200IM featured a 1-2 finish for Wheeling Jesuit. Teammates Kuba Skrzypczak and Jandre Strauss (the 2013 champion) would place first and second for the Cardinals in 1:52.81 and 1:55.25; Skrzypczak's time was a new meet record and beat that of his teammate from last year. Matt Stover of Urbana placed third in 1:55.53.
The 50 Freestyle would feature top finishes by a number of the conference's younger stars. Aerika Wieser, a Freshman from Urbana won her first conference title by touching first with an NCAA Division II "B" cut of 23.97. Following behind her was Anna Davis of Wheeling Jesuit in second in 24.33 and Raquel Loustau of Notre Dame in third in 24.50. The Men's 50 was won by newcomer David Lambert of Saint Andrew's University, who set a new meet record of 20.69. Drew Rosser of Mars Hill took second in 21.14 and Jeff Saltzgaber of Notre Dame took third in 21.42. As the top-three finishers on both the women's and men's side are either freshman or sophomores, we will get to see them compete for the next couple of years.
The action would move onto the 1-Meter springboard diving. Melissa Smith of the King University Tornado would move up from a second-place finish in 2012 to capture her first conference title with a score of 206.30. Amanda Green of Notre Dame College finished second with a score of 179.60
The last event of the evening, the 400 Medley Relay would see Brenau making a statement that they are here to compete for the team title. The Golden Tigers would win their third event of the evening while setting another meet record. The quartet of Talia Solia, Mary Katherine Jabbia, Michelle Billeaud, and Shelby Rumker blazed to a time of 3:53.95 breaking the record set last year by Brenau of 3:57.28. Following up in second were the Cardinals of Wheeling Jesuit in 3:56.11 and in third were the Bulldogs of Union in 4:01.59. Mars Hill would win their second relay of the evening with the quartet of Hudson Tucker, Drew Rosser, Sal Russo, and Mladen Senicar racing to a time of 3:24.82; this is the third year in a row in which the Lions have won this event. Urbana would finish in second in 3:27.81 and Wheeling Jesuit would take third in 3:28.67.
Saturday's morning session begins at 9am and Saturday's evening session will begin at 6pm.
Team standings after the first session:
Women
Notre Dame College 159
Brenau University 148
Wheeling Jesuit University 122
King University 109
Union College 95
Asbury University 91.5
Urbana University 88
Mars Hill University 69
Milligan College 51
Alderson Broaddus University 47
Saint Andrews University 38.5
Warren Wilson College 28
Men
Wheeling Jesuit University 161.5
Saint Andrews University 142
Urbana University 131
Mars Hill College 122
Union College 87
Alderson Broaddus University 59
Asbury University 58
Milligan College 56
King University 49.5
Notre Dame College 47
Warren Wilson College 34
West Virginia University Institute of Technology 34
