Louisville
The University of Louisville men’s and women’s swimming and diving sit atop the leader board after the first day of racing at the Louisville Invitational.
The No. 17-ranked women lead the field with 545 points, followed by Western Kentucky (397), Missouri State (287), Connecticut (286), and Southern Illinois (228).
The No. 5-ranked men lead with 731 ahead of UConn (311), Missouri State (296.50), Southern Illinois (278.50) and WKU (217).
“Lots of highlights today with this tournament format there were a lot of races and a lot of people stepped up. They made a case to be in contention for the championship lineup,” said UofL coach Arthur Albiero.
In the women’s 200-free relay, the University of Louisville foursome boarded the winning time of 1:30.67 posted by the foursome of Andrea Kneppers (23.45), Kelsi Worrell (21.63), Maggie Patterson (23.16) and an 22.43 anchor by Tanja Kylliainen.
The men’s 200-free relay was won by the Louisville A-relay team of Thomas Dahlia (20.50), Caryle Blondell (19.73), Matthias Lindenbauer (19.64 and Trevor Carroll’s anchor of 19.75 for the 1:19.25.
In the women’s 500-freestyle, Marah Pugh had a strong kick to put up the winning time in 4:47.42 with teammate Andrea Kneppers touching second in 4:47.95. Abbie Houck was eighth in 4:56.26.
In the men’s 500-freestyle, Trevor Carroll was the top Cardinal finisher with a third place touch in 4:25.30. Bryan Draganosky was fourth in 4:28.61, Jake Schultz went 4:29.53 and Matthias Lindenbauer was sixth in 4:32.23. Missouri State’s Miguel Davila was first in 4:24.25 with an NCAA B-cut.
Sean Piner won the 1-meter diving with a score of 337.15.
Erica Belcher was the top Cardinal finisher in the 200-IM with a time of 2:20.29, an NCAA B-cut. Devon Bibault was fourth in 2:01.07 also a B-cut and Abby Chin was fifth in 2:02.46.
In the men’s 200-IM, Uvis Kalnins of Missouri State touched first with a B-cut time of 1:46.25. Nolan Tesone was the top Cardinal with a third place time of 1:45.74 with Josh Quallen touching fourth in 1:47.37 all B-cuts. Christian Garkani in fifth with a 1:50.49.
Chinyere Pigot of UConn hit the wall first in the women’s 50-free with a 22.6 just ahead of Cardinal Kelsi Worrell’s 22.78 both were B-cuts. Tanja Kylliainen was third in 23.14 and Andrea Kneppers was fourth in 23.40.
In the men’s 50-free, Thomas Dahlia and Aaron Young tied for first with a 20.43. Nick Hasemann snuck in fourth at 20.46 just out-touching Pedro Coutinho’s 20.50.
In the women’s 3-meter diving Emily Stalmack was the top Cardinal with a fourth place score 299.10. Andrea Acquista was fifth with a 297.05 and Alessandra Murphy was eighth in 281.20.
Western Kentucky won the women’s 400-medley relay with a time of 3:37.44. The Cardinals touched second with a 3:37.72 posted by Erica Belcher (54.59), Maggie Patterson 1:03.79, Tanja Kylliainen (51.14) and Kelsi Worrell’s anchor of 48.20, the fastest split of the race.
In the men’s 400 medley relay was first with a time of 3:10.85 posted by Grigory Tarasevich (47.16), Thomas Dahlia (54.24), Pedro Coutinho (46.17) and an anchor of 43.298 by Caryle Blondell.
Preliminaries start up again Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the 400-IM, 100-fly, 200-free, 100-breast, 100-back, diving, 200-medley relay and the 800-free relay. Finals begin at 6 p.m. at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.
Missouri State
The Missouri State Bears swimming and diving team finished its first day of events at the Louisville Invitational with both the men’s and women’s squads sitting in third on Friday, Nov. 21, at Ralph Wright Natatorium.
Junior women’s swimmer Dora Kiss turned in one of the top performances for the Bears, breaking the previous-school record she held in the 500 free in the prelims by two seconds, then placing third and finishing faster by one-tenth of a second in the finals with a time of 4:49.13.
That effort was among many the Bears thrived off of for either personal or season bests Friday.
In the 500 free, Suzanne Van Rensburg (4:59.95) and Heather Snyder (4:59.88) each had season-best times in the B- and C-Finals, respectively, while Shawna Elsey, Carly Wright and Emma Metz also topped their best marks of the 2014-15 season. Freshman Sydney Zupan swam a personal-best time (4:58.13) in the B-Final for the Bears.
Lauren Pavel’s 2:06.11 in the 200 IM was her top time of the year in the event and qualified her for the A-Final. In the B-Final, junior Ibby Simcox broke her top-career time in the 200 IM (2:06.33), while Briana Horozewski and CeCe Etter set their best times of the 2014-15 season in the same heat. Emily Chesser had a season-low time in the prelims (2:08.29) and in the D-Final, Rebecca Amparano and Emma Wall swam their best times of the year.
Kate Gately, Megan Holthoff and Anna Bump had solid performances for MSU in the 50 free. Gately placed fifth in the A-Final after swimming a 23.32 in the prelims for her top time of the season. Holhoff set a personal-best time in the prelims (23.76) before finishing seventh in the A-Final. Bump swam a career-best 23.90 in the prelims, while Shannon Myer and Lauren Williams had season low times as well in the event.
The women’s diving squad competed in 1-meter diving on the first day of the Invite and was led by Nina Privitera, who finished with an MSU-high 212.85 points.
The Bears’ men’s swimming and team had two swimmers place at the top of their respective events on Friday.
Junior Miguel Davila finished the 500 free (4:24.25) in his fastest time of the season, earning him a first-place finish while also hitting a B standard in the event.
After earning the top time in the 200 IM prelims, MSU’s Paul Le finished with a B standard time of 1:46.53 in the final, but fell to teammate Uvis Kalnins, who had his best time of the year and narrowly touched the wall before Le in a time of 1:46.25 for first place.
Like the women’s team, the MSU men also had multiple season-best performances.
Brandon Weissman and Caleb Schuermann each swam their quickest times of the year in the 500 free, while freshman Ethan Bresette earned a B-Finals berth with a career-best 4:34.59 in the prelims.
Competing in the 200 IM, freshman Christopher Heye swam a career-best 1:54.69 in the C-final, while Aaron Dennis had his fastest 200 IM swim of the year. Isaac McKnight (21.03) and Will Brand (21.38) had season-best times in the 50 free, as did Uldis Tazans (21.72). The 200 free relay squad of Le, Kalnins, Brand and McKnight set the 2014-15 top mark for the team in a time of 1:21.22.
In 3-meter diving on the men’s side, Garrett Nevels earned runner-up honors with 331 points – six shy of the first-place finisher. Elijah Swaim was also one of the eight divers to make the A-finals, ending with 257.50 points and placing seventh.
Both the Bears’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are in third place after the first day of action. On the men’s side, the Bears’ 296.5 points trail Louisville (731) and Connecticut (311), while they sit ahead of Southern Illinois (278.5) and Western Kentucky (217). Louisville also sits on top for the women with 545 points, followed by Western Kentucky (397), Missouri State (287), Connecticut (286) and Southern Illinois (228).
Western Kentucky
WKU swimmer Nadine Laemmler had her hand in setting a pair of new school records, as the WKU swimming team completed day one at the Louisville Invite on Friday.
After Friday night’s finals, WKU women’s team is second with 397 points, as Louisville leads with 545 points. The Hilltoppers are currently fifth with 217 points, as the team will have plenty of time to make some moves with the three-day event continuing on Saturday, Nov. 22 with a 9 a.m. CT prelim.
Laemmler defeated her own record in the 200 IM that she set in last season’s Conference USA Championship, setting the new mark at 1:58.65, taking a NCAA B-standard time and a first-place finish. The German also helped the 400 medley relay post a new program best, as Laemmler, Claire Conlon, Hannah Musser and Michelle Craddock hit the wall in 3:37.44 for first place. The previous record of 3:39.50 held since February 2010.
Allie Duff also posted a NCAA B-time in the 200 IM, coming in second with a time of 1:59.31. The event continued to be one of WKU’s best of the night, as H. Musser took sixth (2:02.80) and Andrea VanderMey finished seventh (2:05.84).
In the 50 free, Logan Graumann stopped the clock in 23.72 to finish sixth while Ashley Forsyth also had a sixth-place time in the 500 free after finishing in 4:52.47. Sydney King was close behind Forsyth, tabbing a seventh-place time of 4:53.43.
The 200 IM was a strong event on the men’s side as well, as Seth Musser finished seventh with a time of 1:52.69. Fabian Schwingenschlogl took ninth in the event after posting a time of 1:49.48. In the 500 free, Cody Reul took 10th (4:27.63) while Russ Bryant finished 11th (4:29.06).
The Lady Toppers added to its point total with a second-place finish in the 200 free relay while the men took fourth in the event. In the men’s 400 medley relay, the Hilltoppers took the third-place slot.
Southern Illinois
After day one of the Louisville Invite, the Southern Illinois University men’s swimming and diving team sits in fourth place with 278.50 points, while the women’s team is in fifth place with 228.
Junior Till Pallmann opened the day with a second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. His time of 4:24.98 also met the B standard for NCAA qualifying. Dusan Vukobrat earned a third place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.45. The men’s 200-yard freestyle relay team looked impressive, taking third in the event. Diver Kegan Skelton finished third in the one-meter dive with a final point total of 307.
Kaixuan ‘Sherry’ Zhang had one of the best overall performances on the day with her dominant win in the three-meter dive. Zhang shattered the previous pool record of 337.40 with her final score of 440.15.Esther Chen finished second in the three-meter dive with a point total of 321.50.
In the B-final of the women’s 500-yard freestyle, Helena Amorim earned a third place finish with a time of 4:55.66, with Bryn Handley finishing right behind her for a fourth place finish. Sarah James took second in the C-final of the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:08.18., while Holly Johnson took second in the B-final of the 50-yard freestyle.
Connecticut
The University of Connecticut men’s swimming and diving team completed the first set of races of the Louisville Invitational on Friday, earning 311 points to finish the day in second place behind the No. 5 Cardinals. The Huskies, who currently stand ahead of Missouri State (296.50), Southern Illinois (278.50) and Western Kentucky (217), resume competition at the Ralph Wright Natatorium Saturday at 10 a.m.
Senior sprinter Felix Samuels (London, England) posted a solid time in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing it in 20.87 to give UConn 16 points in the event. Sophomore swimmer James Donlevy (Lake Grove, N.Y.) wasn’t far behind, as he completed the race in 20.95, while junior Jeff Magin (Brookfield, Conn.) had the top time in the C final after recording a time of 20.93.
Two UConn divers finished in the top five in the 1-meter final, including junior John Brice (Bala Cynwood, Pa.), who tallied a score of 297.15 in the finals to secure a fourth-place finish. Sophomore Spencer Beaulieu (Portland, Conn.) was fifth in the event, posting a score of 277.50, and freshman Jeffrey Aselin (Riverside, Conn.) recorded an eighth-place finish with a mark of 241.75 to give the Huskies 22 points.
Donlevy, Samuels and Magin were in action in the 200-yard freestyle, as they teamed up with sophomore Kevin Konarski (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) to earn fifth-place honors with a time of 1:22.60. The Cardinals won the race in 1:19.25, notching 64 points in the victory. Magin and Samuels later joined senior Lachezar Shumkov (Sofia, Bulgaria) and junior Greg Baliko (Fanwood, N.J.) to take home fourth place in the 400-yard medley relay after touching the wall with a time of 3:20.94.
Connecticut junior swimmer Mike Lennon (Williston Park, N.Y.) also had a productive night, finishing with a time of 4:31.88 in the A Final of the 500-yard freestyle.
UConn senior swimmer Chinyere Pigot (Miami, Fla.) finished first in the 50-yard freestyle, while junior diver Taryn Urbanus (Quincy, Mass.) was third in the 3-meter final, as the University of Connecticut women’s swimming and diving team earned 286 points to end the first day of the Louisville Invitational in fourth place. The Huskies lead Southern Illinois (228) and currently trail Louisville (545), Western Kentucky (397) and Missouri State (287).
Pigot paced Connecticut on Friday, winning the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.66 to give the Huskies 32 points in the event. Sophomore Tara O’Prey (Ridley Park, Pa.) placed 12th in the race, earning UConn 14 points after finishing it in 23.79 seconds.
Urbanus continued her strong start to the season on Friday, capturing third place in the 1-meter with a final score of 318.35. Sophomores Alexandra Butera (Havertown, Pa.) and Michelle Kalupski (Chicago, Ill.) also placed in the event, as Butera finished sixth (293.30), while Kalupski posted a score of 291.90 to take home seventh-place honors.
Senior swimmer Katy Munzenmaier (Lake George, N.Y.) also had a strong showing for the Huskies, as she finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, completing it in 4:50.20. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Munzenmaier, Pigot and O’Prey teamed up with sophomore Jordan Drake (Marietta, Ga.) to notch a third-place finish. The Connecticut team ended the race with a time 1:33.83 to finish behind Western Kentucky (1:33.21) and Louisville (130.67).
Sophomore swimmer Margot Manning (Frederick, Md.) produced the other notable time for UConn on Friday, earning 15 points in the 200-yard IM after she recorded a 12th place finish with a time of 2:06.37. The Huskies resume competition in the Louisville Invitational on Saturday at 10 a.m.
