Akron
After the first day of the Magnus Cup Invitational at Cleveland State, the Akron swimming and diving team recorded four first-place finishes and find themselves in second place with 470 points on Friday, Nov. 20.
Duquense (509.5), Akron (470), and Xavier (320) are the top three teams out of 10 schools after day one of the invitational.
The Zips diving trio of senior Alice Hottensmith (Brunswick, Ohio), junior Rachel Aepelbacher (Novi, Mich.), and junior Paige Kelkenberg (Lockport, N.Y.) swept the one-meter diving competition. Hottensmith recorded a score of 288.25 for first place, Apelbacher was awarded a 264.75 by the judges for second and Kelkenberg tallied a 260.90 for third place.
Akron began the Magnus Cup touching first place in the 200 free relay. The team of freshmen Ragen Engel (Springfield, Ohio), Sophomore Susan Franz (Canton, Ohio), senior Hannah Raspopovich (Crown Point, Ind.) and freshen Sadie Fazekas (Windsor, Ontario) swam the relay in the third fastest time in program history (1:32.05). The squad's time also ranks as the 12th fastest time in the NCAA this year.
The Zips swept the top three times in the 50 breaststroke in the second event. Raspopovich placed first at an impressive 28.92, freshmen Madison Myers (Akron, Ohio) finished one second later at 29.28 and sophomore Paloma Marrero Munoz (Merida, Spain.) rounded out the three fastest times at 29.60.
Engel and Raspopovich continued their strong performances with second and third place finishes in the 50 freestyle event. Engel had a second place finish with a 23.26, which is the third-fastest time in program history and Raspopovich was close .08 seconds behind touching in at 23.34.
To close out day one of the invitational, Akron's junior Laura Savariau (Saint-Hilaire-la-Palud, France), Raspopovich, Fazekas, and senior Ashley Niznik (McDonald, Pa.) tallied the Zips final first place finish in the 400 medley relay. The squad swam the relay in a blazing time of 3:44.68 finding themselves with the fourth-fastest time in the program and the 15th fastest in the NCAA in 2015.
Akron swimming and diving competes in day two of the Magnus Cup Invitational tomorrow, Nov. 21, with prelims starting at 9 a.m. and the finals set for 5 p.m. at Cleveland State's Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
