Iowa Men
The University of Iowa men's swimming and diving team won the Hawkeye Invitational for a second straight season, finishing the three day competition with 923 points at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
Denver was the team runner-up with 905 points, while Incarnate Word was third with 506 points.
“We had a lot of great swims and great performances overall, getting records in the pool,” said UI head coach Marc Long. “The relay got a school record at the end, which is amazing because we suited up, we didn’t shave for the meet.
“That gave us a great seed time for the end of the year and the Big Ten Championships, and it gives us some confidence. Now we just move onto our next training faze.”
Iowa opened Sunday’s finals with Germany native freshman Kenneth Mende posting a runner-up finish in the 200 back. In finals, he posted a time of 1:45.33, and he swam a faster NCAA “B” qualifying time in the preliminary round at 1:45.21.
Senior Andrew Parker also posted an NCAA “B” qualifying time after finishing third in the 200-back, touching in at a time of 1:46.15.
Senior David Ernstsson brought the Hawkeyes some points, touching in at fourth place in the 100 free, showing a time of 44.82. Freshman Jack Smith slid into a NCAA “B” qualifying time in the 100 free, finishing ninth in 44.26.
In the 200-breast, senior Roman Trussov exploded into first, touching in at 1:56.18, beating Drury’s second place finisher by 2.79 seconds (1:58.97). Trussov’s time is an NCAA “B” cut.
Sophomore Jerzy Twaroski gave Iowa another NCAA “B” qualifying time in the 200 fly, swimming a first place finishing time of 1:45.41.
Iowa finished the night with a runne-r up finish in the 400 free relay. The quartet of senior Jackson Allen, Smith, junior Jackson Halsmer, and Ernstsson pushed to a time of 2:56.37.
The Hawkeyes finished strong on the platform, claiming the top two places. Senior Addison Boschult won the event with a score of 354.00 -- an NCAA Zone mark.
Fellow senior Andrew Hull was the runner-up, finishing with a score of 308.00, the fourth-best score in program history.
The Hawkeyes will return to action Jan. 23 in a road dual at Northwestern.
Denver
The University of Denver men’s and women’s swimming team finished competition at the Hawkeye Invitational on Sunday in the final day of the three day meet. The Pioneers showed another strong performance as the team finished the weekend by setting a total of 13 new school records.
Seniors Dylan Bunch (Boulder City, Nev.) and Tyra Rooney (Calgary, Alberta) both won the 1650 freestyle event as Bunch finished with a strong NCAA B Standard time of 14:56.97 and Rooney finished with a time of 16:27.10.
Sophomores Jared Smith (Boulder City, Nev.) and Morgan McCormick (Golden, Colo.) each finished first in the 200 backstroke event. Smith finished with a preliminary time of 1:46.62 and a finals time of 1:46.62, while McCormick had a preliminary time of 1:56.95 and a finals time of 1:56.03.
“Jared stepped into a great role tonight and Morgan dominated from start to finish,” head coach Brian Schrader said.
Amanda Sanders (Superior, Colo.) set a new school record in the preliminary round of the 200 breaststroke and then broke it again in finals, finishing with a time of 2:08.76, good for first place. This race will also be an NCAA qualifying swim.
Schrader added that the team had some outstanding swims in the men’s 100 freestyle event as Ray Bornman (Mackay, Queensland) broke his school record with a time of 43.17 and Kyle Robrock (Savage, Minn.) was second with a fast time of 43.35.
The DU men’s team had three student-athletes finish in the Top-8 of the 200 yard breaststroke event. Junior Tim Cottam (Sydney, Australia) finished second with a preliminary time of 54.79 and a finals time of 53.92. Patrick Guillory (Meadows Place, Texas) swam to a fourth place finish after having a preliminary time of 54.68 and a finals time 55.16. Junior Travis Greenwald (Wilton, IA) finished eighth overall with a preliminary time of 54.72 and a finals time of 55.49.
The 400 yard free relay teams finished up the meet with strong performances highlighted by the men’s team of Bornman, Robrock, Guillory and Luke Williams (Scottsdale, Ariz.) smashing the school record with a time of 2:54.56. The women's relay team of Alexandra Malazdrewicz (Wheat Ridge, Colo.), Lauren Moden (Parker, Colo.),Morgan Wice-Roslin (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Zoe Huddleston (Rothschild, Wis.) finished second overall in their race with a time of 3:21.68.
After all of the college swimming invitational weekends, CollegeSwimming.com has ranked the Denver men’s team 14th nationally, while the women are ranked 25th nationally. In addition, the men are ranked 1st in the mid major rankings, while the women are ranked 2nd overall.
The University of Denver swim team will have a few weeks off for their winter break before returning to action on Jan. 9 when both the men's and women's teams host Wyoming at El Pomar Natatorium.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Four more records were broken as the Milwaukee swimming & diving team wrapped up the final day of the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational Sunday at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
The Panthers posted another 73 season-best times Sunday – capping the three-day meet with an incredible 217 season-best times.
Jacob Barson, Ryan Menninga and Shelby Rozeboom all broke freshman records to headline the day, running the total records broken by UWM over the weekend to eight.
Barson continued his coming out party Sunday. One day after setting the new freshman record in the 100 breaststroke, the newcomer set not only the freshman record in the 200 breast but also the school record. Barson touched the wall in 2:01.58 in finals – nearly a full second ahead of former Panther Brady Huemann's mark of 2:02.42 set in 2012. That time is also the fastest in the Horizon League this season by two full seconds.
On the women's side, it was sophomore Natalie O'Connell leading the was in 2:20.25 for 10th overall. Jenn Kordik came in 16th overall in 2:23.60, with senior Hannah Lucas winning the C-final in 2:23.39.
Menninga took down the freshman record in the 200 fly with a preliminary time of 1:50.80, taking down Jordan Diel's previous mark of 1:51.25 from 2009. Menninga finished an impressive seventh overall in finals. Yevgeniy Foster (1:51.73), Anthony Kolbus (1:53.86) and Adriel Huerta (1:56:01) all also swam in finals and did well.
In the women's 200 fly, it was sophomore Maggie Burns leading the way. The Canada native touched the wall in 2:05.66 for 11th overall.
Nearly two records fell in the women's 100 freestyle. Mandie Siehs came in third overall with an outstanding time of 50.30 – by far the fastest time in the Horizon League thus far this season. That time also missed a school record by a mere two-hundredths of a second.
Meanwhile, Rozeboom did break a record in that event – the freshman mark set by Diana Diel in 2011. Rozeboom touched the wall in 51.46 – the second-fastest time in the league so far this year.
Nick Menninga was the leader for UWM on the men's side, finishing the sprint event in a season-best 45.72 – also one of the fastest times in the league this season.
Sara Bentley had yet another strong performance Sunday. The sophomore came in sixth overall in the 200 backstroke with a solid time of 2:01.68 – the fastest league time this year. Junior Kristin Zablocki also posted a strong swim, finishing 15th on the day in 2:04.89.
Sophomore Payton teDuits was the leader on the men's side. The Madison native finished in 1:52.95 for 19th overall, with Kyle Gerum (1:53.95) and Mathew Jansen (1:56.25) close behind.
Sunday marked the first time Milwaukee competed in the 1650 free on the season. Senior Max Gatzke (15:49.92) and junior Natalie Johnson (17:07.56) set the bar for the Panther men and women, each taking 10th on the day.
UWM wrapped up the meet with two more solid showings in the 400 free relay. On the women's side, it was Johnson, Rozeboom, Emma Helgeson and Siehs combining for a time of 3:26.68 for seventh on the day. Meanwhile, Tim Halverson, Erik Wahlgren, Tanner Nimke and N. Menninga came in eighth on the men's side in a solid 3:03.43.
Milwaukee is now off until the turn of the calendar, heading to Florida for its annual training trip in early January before returning to action Jan. 15 against IUPUI.
Nebraska
The Nebraska diving team wrapped up a successful weekend of competition at the Hawkeye Invitational Sunday afternoon. Nicole Schwery earned first-place in the platform dive giving the Huskers the sweep for the weekend in the women’s diving events.
Schwery led the way in the platform dive, posting a score of 274.75 in the finals, securing the event title. Schwery also posted the highest preliminary round score, racking up 264.90 points.
Katrina Voge and Francesca Giganti also had impressive performances in the platform dive. Voge captured fourth-place after finishing with a score of 241.20 in the finals, while a score of 214.90 in the prelims earned Voge a spot in the final round. Giganti finished right behind Voge with a score of 228.10 earning fifth-place. Giganti also posted a score of 252.85 in the prelims.
Nebraska’s divers will be back in action Dec. 15-20 as they travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to compete at the Winter National Championships. Check back into Huskers.com for any and all updates regarding the Nebraska diving team.
Illinois
A trio of Illinois divers competed at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa, over the weekend. Senior Jessica Clifford, junior Olivia Kassouni and freshman Madeline Kuhn represented the Fighting Illini at the three-day competition.
“It was a terrific weekend for our divers,” said diving coach Chris Waters. “The girls took some very big steps forward. We started a little slow on Friday, but definitely picked up steam Saturday and Sunday.”
In three-meter diving competition, Kassouni scored a 269.65 to place sixth, while Clifford followed closely behind, placing seventh with a mark of 261.45. The competition was a milestone, as both divers reached their first collegiate finals.
Kuhn also found success over the weekend, joining her teammates in reaching her first finals. Kuhn placed eighth in platform diving competition with a score of 188.50.
“Obviously, we still have work ahead of us,” said Waters. “But you have got to be happy as an athlete and coach when you can not only come out of competition feeling successful, but also with a much clearer picture of what you have to do in order to get better in the future.”
The Illini swimmers and divers will split up again, as both squads will head for separate competitions on opposite sides of the country over winter break.
