SMU's women added five event wins Friday to build a sizeable lead in the team standings, while East Carolina took over the top spot on the men’s side heading into the final day of competition at the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
SMU won five of the seven events competed Friday, giving the Mustangs a 122-point lead in the women’s standings with seven events remaining. The Mustangs have 550 points to hold a comfortable margin on second-place UConn, which has 428 points. East Carolina is third with 391.5 points, followed by Tulane (331.5), Houston (314) and Cincinnati (295).
The race is much closer on the men’s side, setting the stage for an exciting day of competition Saturday. East Carolina won just one event Friday, but the Pirates’ depth pushed them into the lead in the team standings with 609 points. SMU, which held the lead through the first two days, remains well within reach with 576 points, followed by UConn (498) and Cincinnati (392).
SMU’s first win of the night on the women’s side came in the 400-yard individual medley as sophomore Kirsty McLauchlan, who was the runner-up in the 200 IM Thursday, turned in a provisional NCAA Championships-qualifying time of 4:14.82 to win by more than four seconds. Sophomore Marne Erasmus followed with a win in the 100 butterfly as she defended her 2014 American Athletic Conference title with a time of 52.28 seconds.
Another Mustang sophomore, Tara-Lynn Nicholas set the meet record in the 100 breaststroke as she led a 1-2 SMU finish in 59.12 seconds, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Senior Rachel Nicol, who won Thursday’s 200 IM, was second in 59.94.
SMU added another meet record to its Friday haul as Isabella Arcila set the conference standard in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in 52.90 seconds, leading a group of four Mustang swimmers in the championship final. Arcila earned her second individual title and meet record of the 2015 championship as she took the 50 freestyle Thursday night.
The Mustangs closed the women’s portion of Friday’s competition with a win in the 400 medley relay as SMU edged East Carolina for the top spot. The Mustangs clocked 3:40.18, while the Pirates turned in a 3:41.46 effort.
Cincinnati sophomore Jackie Keire picked up her second individual win of the 2015 championship as she broke her own meet record in the 200 freestyle. Keire finished in 1:44.70 to complete a sweep of the 200 and 500 frestyle events for the second straight year.
Houston, which took the top four places in one-meter diving Wednesday, continued its dominance on the board as the Cougars took three of the top four spots in three-meter diving. Sophomore Taylor Olanski, last year’s American Athletic Conference champion on the platform, took home the springboard title with a meet-record 325.30 points. Danielle Shedd, who won the one-meter springboard Wednesday, was the runner-up Friday with 314.40 points, while last year’s three-meter champion, UConn’s Taryn Urbanus, took third with 314.20.
On the men’s side, East Carolina’s only event win Friday came in the 100 breaststroke as senior Rokas Cepulis, the only Pirate in the championship final of that event, took the first-place points by finishing in 53.00 seconds. Cepulis won the 200 individual medley Thursday and added his second American individual title to his collection with the 100 breast performance.
SMU junior Samuel Straughan was a double winner Friday as he led a strong performance for the Mustangs in the 100 butterfly, winning the event in 47.18 seconds. The Mustangs also took second and fourth in the event as Tyler Rauth was the runnner-up in 47.24 seconds and Tucker Wells was fourth in 48.45. Straughan went on to win the 100 backstroke as he finished in a meet-record 46.60 seconds, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
SMU freshman Christian Scherubl won his second individual title in his rookie year as he went 1:34.89 in the 200 freestyle, his fastest time of the year and a provisional NCAA qualifying mark. Scherubl took the 500 freestyle Thursday night as well.
The Mustangs closed the competition Friday by erasing the meet record in the 400 medley relay. SMU won the event in 3:10.89 to edge East Carolina, which finished in 3:11.73 and saw its streak of three straight relay wins snapped.
Cincinnati’s Ryan DePietro gave the Bearcats their first individual title of the 2015 championship as he won the 400 individual medley, defeating last year’s champion, UConn’s Sawyer Franz, by more than four seconds. DePietro touched the wall in 3:50.02, while Franz was second in 3:54.30.
Competition concludes Saturday, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. ET and finals at 6 p.m. ET.
Women’s Scores (through 14 of 21 events)
1. SMU 550
2. UConn 428
3. East Carolina 391.5
4. Tulane 331.5
5. Houston 314
6. Cincinnati 295
Men’s Scores (through 14 of 21 events)
1. East Carolina 609
2. SMU 576
3. UConn 498
4. Cincinnati 392
UConn Men
The University of Connecticut men’s swimming team set three school records on the third day of the American Athletic Championships on Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina. The Huskies remain in third place with 498 points, as they head into the final day of competition trailing East Carolina (609) and SMU (576).
Two of the school records were initially broken in the preliminary rounds today, starting in the 100-yard breaststroke. Senior Lachezar Shumkov (Sofia, Bulgaria) recorded a program-best time of 54.64 seconds to finish third in the race behind East Carolina’s Rokas Cepulis (53.21) and Ziga Cerkovnik (52.29).
Cepulis would go on to win the final of the event with a time of 53.21, while Shumkov finished third after swimming it in 54.65 seconds. Sophomore James Donlevy (Lake Grove, N.Y.) and senior Wyatt Boliek (Greenville, S.C.) also placed in the A-Final of the event.
Junior swimmer Jeff Magin (Brookfield, Conn.) marked the second Husky to take down a school record on Friday. He made history in the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke, swimming it in 48.67 seconds to finish fourth in the heat. In the finals, Magin broke his own record after he completed the race in 48.59 seconds, and junior Ryan Walsh (Monroe, N.Y.) was eighth in the A-Final with a time of 50.97.
The final school record set on Friday came in the 400-yard medley relay. Magin and Shumkov teamed up with junior Greg Baliko (Fanwood, N.J.) and senior Felix Samuels (London, England) to swim the race in 3:15.86. That time was good enough for the third-best mark behind SMU (3:10.89) and East Carolina (3:11.73).
Two UConn swimmers, senior Sawyer Franz (Pine, Colo.) and sophomore Chris Girg (Burbach, Germany) earned top-three finishes in Friday’s finals. Franz was second in the 400-yard IM, as he totaled a time of 3:49.36 to finish behind Cincinnati’s Ryan Depietro (3:49.08). Freshman Brandon Cole (Trumbull, Conn.) was seventh in the event with a time of 3:59.49.
Girg earned third-place honors in the 200-yard freestyle after swimming it in 1:39.07. SMU’s Chris Scherrubl won the race with a time of 1:34.89, while Samuels finished sixth after completing it in 1:39.50.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Baliko finished sixth with a completed time of 48.84. Walsh and freshman Kyle Kimura (Tampa, Fla.) both placed in the B-Final of the race as well.
UConn Women
The University of Connecticut women’s swimming and diving team resumed competition in the American Athletic Championships on day three of the event Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Huskies will go into the final day of the meet in second place after totaling 428 points through the first three days. SMU leads all schools with 550 points.
Connecticut sophomore standout Tara O’Prey (Ridley Park, Pa.) provided the highlight for the Huskies in the preliminaries on Friday morning, as she broke the school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.12 seconds. She finished fourth in the heat, and she placed sixth in the finals after swimming it in 55.58 seconds. Sophomore Sophie Nothnagle (Victor, N.Y.), who was fifth (55.35) in the preliminary stage, earned fourth-place honors in the finals with a time of 55.19 seconds.
UConn’s second school record on Friday came in the last event of the night, the 400-yard medley relay final. Nothnagle teamed up with sophomore Jaimie Lynn Brookover (Cherry Hill, N.J.), freshman Sammi Bassman (Austin, Texas) and senior Katy Munzenmaier (Lake George, N.Y.) to make history after swimming the event in 3:43.77. That time was the fifth-best mark in the race.
On the diving side, junior Taryn Urbanus (Quincy, Mass.) nearly won her second straight American Athletic 3-meter final, as she placed third on Friday with a score of 314.20.Two Connecticut sophomores, Alexandra Butera (Havertown, Pa.) and Michelle Kalupski (Chicago, Ill.) also earned finishing spots in the A-Final. Butera was fifth with a score of 290.15, while Kalupski (278.30) was sixth. Freshman Monica Marcello (Middletown, Conn.) recorded the top score (288.35) in the B-Final.
Munzenmaier and Brookover’s strong night continued, as they also tallied an individual second-place finish each. Munzenmaier was second in the 200-yard freestyle after swimming it in 1:46.71, while Brookover was the runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke final with a completed time of 54.78.
In the 400-yard IM final, junior Laura Ruttan (Stittsville, Ontario) swam to a seventh-place finish with a time of 4:25.90, and Bassman marked the other Husky to place in an individual A-Final on Friday. She earned seventh-place honors in the 100-yard breaststroke final after swimming it in 1:03.52.
Tulane
After setting three school records during the first two days of the American Athletic Conference Championship, the Tulane University swimming and diving team established two more program-best performances as junior Holly Grender broke her own mark in the 400 IM and the 400 medley relay team surpassed its performance of a year ago on Friday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Grender, who finished fourth in the 400 IM finals with a 4:21.83, surpassed her previous school record with a 4:21.02 during the preliminaries. The quartet of freshman Tirol Palmer, junior Mia Schachter, sophomore Ellie Sills and rookie Emma Lincoln, meanwhile, joined forces to clock a 3:42.09 to finish third in the relay event.
The Green Wave remained fourth in the team rankings with 331.5 points, holding a 17.5-point advantage over fifth-placed Houston (314) and trailing third-placed East Carolina (391.5) by 60 points. SMU leads the overall race with 550 points with UConn sitting second with 428 points. With 295 points, Cincinnati rounds out the standings.
“It was another record-setting day in the books for us today,” Tulane head coach Katie Robinson said. “We are very happy with how we’re performing. We are getting people in the finals that were not necessarily expected to get there. Across the board, people are making strides toward being better – not just times but also mentally and in how they prepare. Big steps were made today.
Grender time in the 400 IM preliminaries was a quarter of a second faster than her previous record of 4:22.08 established at the Pearland Invitational back on Nov. 22. It was the fourth school record Grender was involved in during the first three days of The American Championship.
The native of Cincinnati, Ohio, helped the 800 free relay team set a program record and added an individual mark with her leadoff split in the 200 free on Wednesday, and established the record in the 200 IM yesterday. The 400 medley relay broke the former mark of 3:42.93 established by Elizabeth Cook, Joy Jason, Amy Needham and Schachter at the Conference USA Championship on Feb. 28, 2014.
“It was great to see Holly break the record in the 400 IM, and we were really close to breaking records in a few other events,” Robinson said. “The relay tonight was a big highlight in my mind. I have been wanting to put that relay together all season long and I really believe in that relay and what they’re capable of. They really put it together tonight. The way our team gave the relay team energy from the side of the pool was fun and exciting to do.”
While Grender led the Tulane effort in the 400 IM, junior Roni Meyer and senior Laura Turpen followed with career-best times of 4:25.32 and 4:30.76 to finish sixth and 13th, respectively. Meyer’s time is the No. 3 individual and No. 6 overall time in Tulane history while Turpen’s mark stands as the No. 8 individual time in the Green Wave record book.
Sills paced Tulane in the 100 fly with a career-best 55.36 – the No. 3 individual time and No. 4 overall time in Tulane history – to finish fifth, and senior Amy Needham was next with a 56.03 to come in eighth. Senior Vanessa Loewen posted a career-best performance in the 100 fly as well with a 56.27 to finish 11th while freshman Kaitlin Simpson was 13th with a 56.35 and rookie Alex Brindisi posted a season-best 56.50 to come in 14th.
After posting the second-fastest time in Tulane history with a 1:50.12 during the 200 free preliminaries in the morning, Lincoln led the Green Wave in the finals with a 1:52.17 to finish seventh. Fellow freshman Alex Lakota was the only other Tulane student-athlete to compete in the event, coming in 12th with a season-best 1:51.50 – the No. 8 individual and No. 12 overall time in the school record book.
Schachter clocked a 1:00.49 in the 100 breast to finish fourth overall, followed by Jason with a 1:03.51 to come in ninth. Palmer paced the Wave with a 56.58 to finish 10th in the 100 back while Loewen (56.80) and Needham (57.24) finished 11th and 14th, respectively.
In three-meter diving action, junior Lauren Arnold posted the No. 9 score in Tulane history with a 254.50 to rank 13th. Junior Maren Kjell finished 15th with a 214.70 in the finals, and posted a season-best mark of 244.45 during the preliminaries.
“It was a pretty good day for us today, even though we didn’t make the finals,” Green Wave diving coach Chris Devine said. “Maren and Lauren were three points out of finals, finishing the preliminaries ninth and 10th, and they were both in it through the whole thing. We had pretty good, solid lists. There were a couple of mistakes here and there, and in this kind of competition the little ones can come back to bite you. Overall, I was very pleased. Tomorrow we obviously have platform, so we’ll see how that goes.”
The American Championship concludes on Saturday with the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay and platform diving. Preliminaries will begin at 9 a.m. (CST) with finals slated to start at 5 p.m.
“I’ve seen the growth that this team has had over the last year, and now they’re putting all of that into action in this meet,” Robinson added. “I couldn’t be more proud as a coach with how they’re preparing mentally and how they are taking control physically. It’s about how they warm up and all the little things that factor in a great race.
“Once again, we’re going to use this momentum and keep this ball rolling. We’ve got one more day. It’s a tough thing to be great tomorrow morning, but we have got to look back on all of the training we’ve done so far this year and put it to use. We’ve worked hard for this and I am confident that they will respond in a very positive way tomorrow morning.”
QUOTES FOLLOWING DAY 3 OF THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Tulane Head Coach Katie Robinson
Overall thoughts on the day
“It was another record-setting day in the books for us today. We are very happy with how we’re performing. We are getting people in the finals that were not necessarily expected to get there. Across the board, people are making strides toward being better – not just times but also mentally and in how they prepare. Big steps were made today. I’ve seen the growth that this team has had over the last year, and now they’re putting all of that into action in this meet. I couldn’t be more proud as a coach with how they’re preparing mentally and how they are taking control physically. It’s about how they warm up and all the little things that factor in a great race.”
On Holly Grender setting her fourth school record of the week so far
“It was great to see Holly break the record in the 400 IM, and we were really close to breaking records in a few other events. Mia’s got a great breaststroke. She was great this morning and was a little off tonight. I know that she is completely hungry for a great swim and she’s likely to have qualified for the NCAA Championships in that event from earlier this season.”
On the performance of the senior class
“It was great for the seniors to finish out some of their last times swimming their events. I know we have one more day, but they are on a roll and there’s no stopping them from performing at the highest level their very last time through it. I’m very happy with the seniors and very happy with this team. The energy is incredible and it’s very contagious. “
On the 400 medley relay
“The relay tonight was a big highlight in my mind. We did so well. I have been wanting to put that relay together all season long and I really believe in that relay and what they’re capable of. They really put it together tonight. We made East Carolina shake in their boots, which was really fun to do, and the way our team gave the relay team energy from the side of the pool was also fun and exciting to do.”
On wrapping up the championship on Saturday
“Once again, we’re going to use this momentum and keep this ball rolling. We’ve got one more day. It’s a tough thing to be great tomorrow morning, but we have got to look back on all of the training we’ve done so far this year and put it to use. We’ve worked hard for this and I am confident that they will respond in a very positive way tomorrow morning.”
Tulane Diving Coach Chris Devine
Overall thoughts on the day
“It was a pretty good day for us today, even though we didn’t make the finals. Maren and Lauren were three points out of finals, finishing the preliminaries ninth and 10th, and they were both in it through the whole thing. We had pretty good, solid lists. There were a couple of mistakes here and there, and in this kind of competition the little ones can come back to bite you. Overall, I was very pleased. Tomorrow we obviously have platform, so we’ll see how that goes.”
On how he feels his divers stack up with the divers of the American Athletic Conference
“I was asked before the meet what I expected place wise and I said I didn’t really know. I know now. It’s pretty solid competition at the top and it falls off a little bit from there. At the moment, we’re kind of in that middle group that can sneak into finals but we have to be on top of our game completely. Unfortunately, they both had a couple of mistakes in the first couple of rounds but hey both recovered really well. Maren did backs and gainers, and really stoned them. I was pretty pleased with her performance. Lauren was who Lauren is. She’s been consistent through this whole thing.”
