Swimcloud

East Carolina Men, SMU Women Win AAC Titles

East Carolina’s men’s team scored a one one-hundredth of a second victory in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, to lead the Mustangs to their first American Athletic Conference title in any sport, while SMU was a comfortable winner on the women’s side in the final day of competition at the American Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
 
The SMU women earned their first women’s swimming title as a member of The American and their first conference title since they won the 2012 Conference USA crown. East Carolina’s men won their first conference title since they captured the 1989 Colonial Athletic Association Championship.
 
East Carolina’s win in the final relay gave the Pirates 892.5 points to edge second-place SMU, which finished with 858. UConn was third with 723 points followed by Cincinnati with 642.5.
 
The women’s meet went to SMU, which finished with 797 points. UConn was second with 619 points, followed by East Carolina (595.5), Tulane (494.5), Cincinnati (461) and Houston (449).
 
Cincinnati sophomore Jackie Keire, who won the 100, 200 and 500 freestyles, and set meet records in all three, was chosen as the Women’s Most Outstanding Swimmer at the championship. SMU freshman Christian Scherubl, who also took first in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyles, was tabbed as the Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer.
 
Houston sophomore Taylor Olanski was the conference champion in three-meter diving and platform diving and was named the Women’s Most Outstanding Diver. SMU senior Devin Burnett, who swept all three diving events for the second straight year, was the Men’s Most Outstanding Diver.
 
On the men’s side, East Carolina entered Saturday’s finals with a 33-point lead against SMU in the team standings. The Mustangs were able to cut into the lead after SMU took the top four places in platform diving, led by Burnett’s 388.15 total, giving SMU a shot at the team championship heading into the final relay.
 
East Carolina only needed to not get disqualified in the 400 free relay to claim the team championship, but the Pirates put an exclamation point on the meet as Kevin Irish out-touched Scherubl in the final leg to bring East Carolina home with a winning time of 2:56.79. SMU finished in 2:56.80.
 
The other individual champions on the men’s side Saturday were Cincinnati’s Christopher Brady, who won the 1,650 freestyle in 15:21.84 seconds; SMU’s Sam Straughan, who took the 200 backstroke in 1:44.72; and the Mustangs’ Tyler Rauth, woh won the 200 butterfly in a meet-record 1:45.00.
 
The women’s competition was all but a formality for SMU, which entered the final day of competition with a 122-point lead against second-place UConn. The Mustangs added event wins in the 200 backstroke, as Isabella Arcila won in 1:54.39; the 200 breaststroke behind Rachel Nicol’s 2:10.99 performance; and the 400 freestyle relay, which capped the meet with a 3:18.91 showing.
 
East Carolina’s Lauren Chew took the women’s 1,650 freestyle in 16:44.49, and the Pirates’ Bailie Monahan won the 200 butterfly in 1:58.72.Olankski defended her platform diving title with a score of 274.95 for Houston, while Keire, who won two individual titles last year, picked up her third title of 2015 with her win in the 100 free.

 

UConn Men

The UConn men’s swimming and diving team earned third place overall in the American Athletic Championships after concluding the final day of action on Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Huskies totaled 723 points through four days, while East Carolina won the event with a final score of 892.5.

Three UConn swimmers saw second-place finishes in the finals on Saturday, starting with Mike Lennon (Williston Park, N.Y.). The Connecticut junior completed the event in 15:29.33 to finish behind Cincinnati’s Christopher Bready, who won the race with a time of 15:21.84. Freshman Patrick Kavanaugh (Frederick, Md.) earned seventh place with a time of 15:54.42, while Walker Hill (Jacksonville, Fla.) was 13th (16:42.85).

In the 200-yard backstroke final, the Huskies claimed two of the top-three spots. Senior Sawyer Franz (Pine, Colo.) finished second (1:46.28) just ahead of junior Jeff Magin (Brookfield, Conn.), who was third after swimming the race in 1:46.59. SMU’s Samuel Straughan won the event with a time of 1:44.72.

The Huskies also produced two of the top-three times in the 200-yard breaststroke final. UConn senior swimmer Lachezar Shumkov (Sofia, Bulgaria), who set a school record in a breaststroke event on Friday, placed second in the race with a time of 1:58.34. Junior Greg Baliko (Fanwood, N.J.) finished third (1:59.26). Baliko also set a school record for UConn earlier this week.

On the diving side, junior John Brice, who tallied two second-place finishes earlier this week, placed sixth in the platform event with a total score of 244.00. Two other UConn divers, sophomore Spencer Beaulieu (Portland, Conn.) and freshman Daniel Kinney (Middletown, Conn.) were also in action in Saturday’s preliminaries. Kinney posted the 10th-best score (182.95), while Beaulieu was 15th after totaling 165.80 points in the afternoon.

In the final event of the conference meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Magin teamed up with sophomores James Donlevy (Lake Grove, N.Y.) and Kevin Konarski (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and senior Felix Samuels (London, England) to earn a fourth-place finish with a time of 2:59.71. East Carolina won the event after swimming it in 2:56.79, and SMU (2:56.80) and Cincinnati (2:59.12) rounded out the top three.

Sophomore Chris Girg (Burbach, Germany) continued his strong week for the Huskies, as he finished fifth in the 200-yard butterfly final with a completed time of 1:48.35. In the 100-yard freestyle final, Samuels earned sixth-place honors after completing the event in 44.84 seconds. Donlevy and Konarski both placed in the B-Final of the event.

 

UConn Women

The University of Connecticut women’s swimming and diving team earned second-place honors in the 2015 American Athletic Championships after wrapping up the final day of competition Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Huskies finished with 619 total points, while SMU won the meet after accumulating 797 points. ECU (595.5), Tulane (494.5), Cincinnati (461) and Houston (449) rounded out the remaining spots.

Two Husky sophomore swimmers, Christine Pedersen (Vinterbro, Norway) and Sophie Nothnagle (Victor, N.Y.) earned top-three finishes on Saturday to pace the UConn swimming attack. Nothnagle was tremendous in the 200-yard butterfly, placing second with a time of 1:58.99. Senior Holly Gallagher (Haddon Township, N.J.) was sixth in the event after swimming it in 2:02.90, while sophomore Caroline Finkle (Johns Creek, Ga.) finished 11th (2:05.26).

Pedersen captured third-place honors in the 200-yard backstroke final, finishing with a time of 1:58.98. Sophomore Jaimie Lynn Brookover (Cherry Hill, N.J.) marked the other UConn swimmer to place in the A-Final, as she was fifth after swimming the race in just over two minutes (2:00.44).

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the final event of the conference meet, the UConn team of Nothnagle, seniors Katy Munzenmaier (Lake George, N.Y.) and Chinyere Pigot (Miami, Fla.) and sophomore Margot Manning (Frederick, Md.) finished second with an impressive time of 3:23.20. SMU won the race after swimming it in 3:18.91.

On the diving side, sophomores Michelle Kalupski (Chicago, Ill.) and Alexandra Butera (Havertown, Pa.) and junior Taryn Urbanus (Quincy, Mass.) were all in action Saturday afternoon for the preliminaries of the platform diving event. Kalupski posted the 10th best score (136.15), while Butera (126.45) and Urbanus (118.35) rounded out the remaining qualifiers.

Pigot, who placed third in Thursday’s 50-yard freestyle, posted a strong showing in the 100-yard freestyle final on Saturday. She finished fourth with a completed time of 49.71, while Cincinnati’s Jacqueline Keire won the event after recording a time of 48.44. Munzenmaier totaled the top time (50.17) in the B-Final of the event.

In the first race of the night, the 1650-yard freestyle, UConn sophomore Michelle Faykes (Cherry Hill, N.J.) tallied the fourth-best time after she swam the race in 17:01.13. Freshman Sammi Bassman (Austin, Texas) continued her strong conference meet debut on Saturday, as she placed eighth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:18.63.  

 

Tulane

When members of the current Green Wave swimming and diving team look back on the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship, they will remember it in a positive light for many different reasons:

-          It was the first time the team competed in the event after being a member of Conference USA a year ago.

-          It was held in one of the premier facilities in the country as the Greensboro Aquatic Center and one that hosted the 2014 AT&T USA Swimming Winter Nationals and the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Championship.

-          It was a meet which saw the team post eye-popping numbers.

If any outsider questions the validity of the final bragging point, all one would have to do is glance at the Tulane record book as the Green Wave set three more school marks to bring the four-day record total to eight as Tulane finished fourth among the six teams participating in the championship.

“Wow, what a finish we had today,” Tulane head coach Katie Robinson said. “This last day of a four-day championship meet is extremely hard to get up and swim fast in, and our women did such a great job of that this morning to place themselves back for finals tonight. Not just swimming to make finals, but putting in all-out effort.”

“We’re such a green team that it’s going to continue to be better. To place fourth overall at this meet – and going in, we were going to be happy with a fifth-place finish – just goes to show that when these women put their mind to it they are unstoppable.”

Tulane’s fourth-place finish was the Green Wave’s best at a conference championship since the 2005-06 team placed fourth at that season’s C-USA Championship. The team’s 494.5 points, meanwhile, are the second-most scored by the Wave and are second only to the 729 in 2005 when Tulane claimed the C-USA title.

SMU won the team title with 797 points, followed by UConn with 619 and East Carolina with 595.5. Cincinnati and Houston rounded out the field with 461 and 449 points, respectively.

Junior Holly Grender set her fifth record of the week, posting a 1:59.62 during the 200 backstroke preliminaries to surpass the former mark of 2:00.44 established by Lauren Pfohl at the C-USA Championship on Feb. 23, 2013. She helped the 800 free relay team set a program record and added an individual mark with her 200 free leadoff split on Wednesday, established a record in the 200 IM on Thursday and followed suit with a school-best effort in the 400 IM on Friday.

Fellow junior Mia Schachter bounced back from several near-miss record efforts throughout the week, to rewrite a bit of Tulane history as the native of Arroyo Grande, Calif., posted an NCAA B-Cut time and set a school record in the 100 free with a mark of 49.68. She broke her own record of 49.85 in the 100 free set back on Nov. 23 at the Pearland Invitational. Sophomore Ellie Sills accounted for the team’s final record of the day, posting a 1:59.73 in the 200 fly to break her own mark of 2:01.18 at the 2014 C-USA Meet. Schachter, Sills and Grender finished third, fourth and sixth in their respective record-setting events.

“Holly has completely annihilated our record book and it is so wonderful to see from a student-athlete that has such a great work ethic and such a positive attitude on this team,” Robinson said. “As this meet has gone along, Mia has gotten better and stronger. What a way to finish and what a way for her to turn it around when she wasn’t happy with her other swims up until this point of the meet. Stuff like that just goes to show that she has some strong character behind her.

“Ellie was so fast and finally broke the two-minute barrier that she’s been trying to break for the last three years. I was so happy for her and we were all going crazy on the side of the pool deck. She has worked her tail off for that. Again, she’s another kid who has such a strong work ethic that you are so happy when you see them break barriers.”

In addition to the record-breaking performances, Tulane also saw six other individuals post career-best times and three others clock season-best showings.

Freshman Ali Talwar (17:12.43) and junior Roni Meyer (17:14.03) posted career-best times in the 1650 to finish seventh and eighth, respectively, while senior Rachel Schneider came in 17th with an 18:22.28. Rookie Tirol Palmer was second on the team to Grender in the 200 back with a career-best 2:02.59 to finish ninth overall and senior Vanessa Loewen logged a season-best 2:02.67 in the event to rank 10th.

In the 100 free, freshman Emma Lincoln was seventh with a career-best 51.17 and fellow freshman Alex Lakota was 16th with a 52.99 after touching the wall with a career-best 51.92 during the preliminaries. Senior Laura Turpen posted a career-best 2:23.96 during the preliminaries of the 200 breast and finished 16th in the finals with a 2:26.39. Senior Amy Needham followed suit in the 200 fly with a season-best 2:05.52 to come in 12th.

The quartet of freshman Kaitlyn Simpson, Lakota and Lincoln, along with Schacther, rounded out the swimming events with a 3:26.42 in the 400 free relay to come in fifth. It was the eight-fastest time in Tulane history.

In diving action, the junior tandem of Lauren Arnold and Maren Kjell both qualified for the finals in the platform. Arnold finished third overall with a 208.85 – a score that ranks fourth in the Green Wave record book – while Kjell was eighth with a 173.60.

“It was a much more successful day for the divers today,” Tulane diving coach Chris Devine said. “We got really good performances by both of them. Lauren ended up with the bronze [medal], but was only two points out of second. Maren just missed her hands on a couple of entries or she would have been right up there in the fourth-or-fifth range. Overall, it was a really good day for them and it’s something to build on.”

The American Athletic Conference Championship is the final event of the regular season for the Green Wave, and marked the last time seniors Morgen Evans, Claire Schelske, Loewen, Needham and Turpen will don the T-wave logo on their swimming caps.

Two Green Wave individuals, however, have a chance to continue the 2014-15 season as Arnold has already qualified for the Zone Diving Meet while Schachter will have to wait in order to find out if her B-Cut time in the 100 free is good enough for the NCAA Championship.

QUOTES FOLLOWING DAY 3 OF THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

Tulane Head Coach Katie Robinson

Overall thoughts on the day
“Wow, what a finish we had today. This last day of a four-day championship meet is extremely hard to get up and swim fast in, and our women did such a great job of that this morning to place themselves back for finals tonight. Not just swimming to make finals, but putting in all-out effort.”

On the 200 backstroke
“Holly Grender set another school record this morning in the 200 back. She has completely annihilated our record book and it is so wonderful to see from a student-athlete that has such a great work ethic and such a positive attitude on this team.”

On the 100 freestyle
“This morning, Mia wasn’t quite happy with what she went in her prelim time, and neither was Emma either, but they made it back at night and came back with a vengeance with two lifetime-best times. As this meet has gone along, Mia has gotten better and stronger. What a way to finish and what a way for her to turn it around when she wasn’t happy with her other swims up until this point of the meet. Stuff like that just goes to show that she has some strong character behind her.”

On the 200 breaststroke
“The breaststroke was a great race to see some of our seniors have their last race and finish strong. Laura Turpen yet again scored for us, and that wasn’t necessarily expected to happen. She has really come around for this team and this moment at this meet. It’s incredible to see that strength from a senior in her last go round. Joy went after it this evening and that was fun to watch.”

On the 200 butterfly
“The butterfly was such a great event for us, placing two in the B final and Ellie in the A final. Tonight, Ellie was so fast and finally broke the two-minute barrier that she’s been trying to break for the last three years. I was so happy for her and we were all going crazy on the side of the pool deck. She has worked her tail off for that. Again, she’s another kid who has such a strong work ethic that you are so happy when you see them break barriers.”

On the 400 free relay
“Last but not least, we finished off the night with a great relay. I think our women are continuing to get stronger in how they handle swimming in a four-day championship meet. We’re such a green team that it’s going to continue to be better. To place fourth overall at this meet – and going in, we were going to be happy with a fifth-place finish – just goes to show that when these women put their mind to it they are unstoppable. We are such a proud staff and I couldn’t have done it without Sarah [Woodbury] as my assistant coach helping these women, not just in training but also with how she helps get them in the zone before their race. It’s really incredible to see and I am so blessed to work alongside such a talented coach.”

On the Tulane divers
“Our divers truly came through for us today. They hadn’t quite had the meet they were looking for either, and show such strong character to turn it around on the last day and say, ‘No way am I going down without a fight here.’ It was so great to see them perform on platform, which isn’t even something they are able to train on day in and day out. For them to place top eight – both of them in our conference – is really something special.”

Tulane Diving Coach Chris Devine

Overall thoughts on the day
“It was a much more successful day for the divers today. We got really good performances by both of them. Lauren ended up with the bronze [medal], but was only two points out of second. Maren just missed her hands on a couple of entries or she would have been right up there in the fourth-or-fifth range. Overall, it was a really good day for them. It’s something to build on.”
 
On how the meet when overall
“During the meet, as a whole, we had a couple of struggles but I think we’re heading in the right direction. I’m really excited to get back and start formulating a new plan for next year at this time to try and make this meet go a little better. Their eyes got a little bit opened to what level of competition the American Athletic Conference is going to deliver for them. Hopefully, that will inspire them to step up. It certainly seemed to because after yesterday, we talked about how this isn’t just goofing around. We’re here to compete, so let’s refocus. They came out today and competed very well and really hard. Overall, I am very pleased.”

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