In its first meet back after its annual winter training trip, the WKU swimming and diving team secured wins over the University of the Cumberlands on Friday at Bill Powell Natatorium.
The women took the meet 138-83 while the men notched a 96-76 victory over the Patriots. The teams are back in action on Saturday against Cincinnati, as the squad will celebrate its seniors for Senior Day prior to the swim events beginning at 1 p.m. CT.
“Obviously it was a very successful night, but more from the standpoint that we put some in their off event or their third event for the conference championship because they may not have the opportunity to swim that event for the remainder of the year,” WKU head coach Bruce Marchionda said. “So it was good to see where they are in that event and what they need to work on as we go into the final preparations over the next couple of weeks.
“I think we are ahead of where we were last year at this particular point, and we were hoping that would be the case by adjusting things on their winter training trip, trying to do things a bit more efficiently and give them appropriate recovery times. I really like what I saw tonight.”
WKU took care of business from start to end, opening up the day’s swim events with 1-2 finishes in the women and men’s 200 medley relay. The team also finished the competition the way it opened it, as it exhibitioned the 200 free relay but took the fastest times in both.
Susan Marquess was a double winner in the individual events, winning the 1000 free in 10:11.80 and the 100 fly in 56.63. Hannah Musser also notched a pair of victories, taking wins in the 200 free at 1:52.51 and 100 free at 52.04. Savannah Neddo won both boards in the diving evaluations, scoring 261.07 on the one meter and 248.85 on the three meter.
For the men, Ryan Burcham notched his first collegiate win, taking the 100 fly in 51.49. Russ Bryant edged John Smith and Brennan Elsas in the 50 free, winning the event in 21.27 to Smith’s 21.56 and Elsas’ 21.91. The Hilltoppers are grabbed the top three spots in the 200 free, as Lucas De Brito hit the wall in 1:44.30, Daniel McGee in 1:45.96 and Harry Griffin in 1:46.38.
The meet against Cincinnati is the last home meet of the season for WKU, turning right around from Friday’s win over UC to face a tough group in the Bearcats.
“(Associate Head Coach) Brian (Thomas) said it very eloquently in that ‘We get to do it, not we have to do it again.’ We get to do it again—that’s what we get excited about it with racing and competing,” Marchionda said. “There are people that don’t have the opportunity to compete all the time, so we get to do it again. It’s not going to be easy. Cincinnati is going to come in here, and they are a very good team. We will be challenged from start to finish, but I’m excited to see what we do against some good competition at this particular time of the year. How are they going to react to that.
“Tonight they were very relaxed with no pressure on them, and tomorrow there is going to be pressure on them, so we will see how they handle their performance under pressure so to speak because you go to the conference championship and there is a lot of pressure.”
