Tennessee
Sophomore Evan Pinion recorded his second top time in the country this season as the Vols concluded the Tennessee Invitational on Sunday at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
Pinion, the distance swimmer from Knoxville, Tenn., won the 1650-yard freestyle in 14:44.23 to wrap up his meet and set the fastest time in the NCAA this year. On Friday, he swam the fastest 500 time in the country so far this fall (4:14.97).
"Evan Pinion is a beast,” Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich said. “I think he served notice he is going to be a force at more than just the mile at NCAAs."
Tennessee’s women won the meet with 1,214.5 points followed by a two-way tie between Virginia Tech and Missouri with 946.5 points each. West Virginia was fourth with 382 points.
Missouri won the men’s competition with 1,283 points, followed by Tennessee (923), Virginia Tech (849.5) and West Virginia (520.5).
Tennessee wrapped up the final day with six more individual event victories, including a sweep of the first platform diving competition of the year courtesy of senior Mauricio Robles and freshman Rachel Rubadue. Faith Johnsonwon the 100 freestyle and helped UT to a win in the 400 freestyle relay to end the night. Sean Lehane won the 200 backstroke again, and Madeline Tegner took first in the women’s 1650 freestyle.
Junior Madeline Tegner led off Tennessee’s final evening with a victory in the 1650 freestyle (16:10.88). Pinion followed his his quick win in the 1650 freestyle in 14:44.23. During his race he broke his own school record in the 1000 freestyle, setting the new mark in 8:52.49.
Senior Sean Lehane stayed undefeated in the 200 backstroke, an event he has won the last two years at SECs. He clocked the second-fastest time in the country, coming in at 1:40.30.
Senior Faith Johnson led off a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 freestyle. She recorded career best in 48.35 and was followed by Harper Bruens (49.03) and Alex Cleveland (49.55). Johnson also won the 50 freestyle at the meet.
Tennessee finished the night in the win column with a victory in the women’s 100 freestyle. The team of Madeline Banic, Alex Cleveland, Harper Bruens and Faith Johnson won in a time of 3:15.81. Tennessee’s second team in the relay finished runner up in 3:18.51.
“For the women, what I was most impressed with is what we have seen all year, and that is our depth,” Kredich said. “We have a lot of people who are closing in on performances that can score at NCAAs. The whole team is committed to improving. We saw a whole lot of improvement and excellence across the board on the women's side. What we thought may be weaknesses coming into the season like our sprinting look to be real strengths."
Freshman Rachel Rubadue wrapped up her diving weekend with a win in her first career collegiate platform competition, winning in 301.05 and besting the field by nearly 70 points. Rubadue is the second UT women’s diver in program history to record a score over 300 points, joining All-American great Tori Lamp.
“Rachel even left a few points on the table, so that’s encouraging to know we’ve got room for improvement,” Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. “Any time a female diver breaks the 300 barriers, that’s a competitive score on the national level. I’m pleased with her demeanor and competitive skills.”
In her career debut, freshman Emily Pelletier took fourth with 209.50. Sarah Chewning was fifth with 196.70.
On the men’s side, senior Mauricio Robles won the men’s competition with a score of 407.10, more than 60 points higher than the rest of the field. It was his second win of the weekend, having also won the 3-meter competition.
Michael Howell was fourth in 315.25 and Liam Stone placed sixth with 303.30.
“Mauricio hadn’t been over 400 in a while,” Parrington said. “For him to do that, given his limited training on platform, he had an outstanding performance. He did some difficult dives off the five-meter that were very good. It was a promising situation for him.
“Michael broke 300 for the second time in his career, so I was very pleased with him. The experience diving at senior nationals this summer is showing its value on platform.”
Stone will be the next Vol diver in action. He is competing in the Oceania Championships in Australia beginning Dec. 12.
This weekend marks the final collegiate event of the fall semester for Tennessee.
Several Tennessee swimmers will compete in the USA Swimming Winter National Championships, which will be held Dec. 3-5 in Seattle.
The next collegiate diving competition is the Georgia Invitational, Jan. 3-5 in Athens, Ga. Tennessee’s swimmers and divers will team up again for a two-day meet at Alabama starting Jan. 8.
Missouri
The Mizzou men’s swimming and diving team claimed the Tennessee Invite team crown over four other teams after three days of competition on Sunday (Nov. 22), while the Tiger women tied second with Virginia Tech behind host Tennessee at the meet. The men tallied 1283.5 points to earn the win and the women earned 946.5 points.
Over the three-day event, Mizzou set 11 school records and notched nine NCAA automatic qualifying times. Junior Michael Chadwick had three individual school records and two A cuts on his own and redshirt senior Abby Duncan also notched automatic qualifying times in both the 100 and 200 breast. Juniors Katharine Ross and Fabian Schwingenschlogl both earned A times in the 100 breast.
Sunday night, Chadwick set his third individual school record of the event after a swim of 41.89 in the men’s 100 free final. The time, an NCAA automatic qualifying time and the fastest time in the nation this season, broke his own Mizzou record by 0.38 seconds. Junior Andrew Sansoucie moved up to seventh all-time in the event after a personal best time of 43.98 for second-place.
Duncan claimed her second A cut of the meet in the 200 breast, where she clocked a personal best and school record time of 2:07.02 to take the win. Ross also notched a career best time in the event, with a time of 2:09.70, which was good for second in the championship heat.
Sophomore Kira Zubar notched her second school record of the meet Sunday in the 1650 free. Zubar, who took third in the event, clocked a time of 16:18.64, a full six seconds under Mizzou’s eight-year-old previous mark.
Mizzou’s 11th school record of the meet came in the final event, the men’s 400 free relay. The Tigers’ A team of freshman Mikel Schreuders, Chadwick, Sansoucie and Schwingenschlogl clocked a time of 2:52.21, which was also an NCAA automatic qualilfying time.
Schwingenschlogl completed the breaststroke sweep Sunday with a win in the 200 breast. The junior touched in 1:53.64 to move into second-place all-time in the Mizzou record books. Junior Eddie Mapel (1:55.89), sophomore Jordy Groters (1:57.70) and freshman Jordan O’Brien (1:59.16) all had career best times for finishes of second, third and sixth, respectively.
Also an individual winner on the final day was senior Daniel Graviss, who claimed top honors in the 200 fly with a finals time of 1:45.14. Junior Martin Wallace was third in 1:46.15, freshman Griffin Schaetzle took fifth in 1:49.61 and sophomore Carter Wallace placed sixth in 1:49.96.
The Tigers went one-two in the women’s 200 back championship final, led by junior Nadine Laemmler’s personal best time of 1:53.81 for the win. Sophomore Hannah Stevens was close behind for second in 1:54.40.
In the diving well, sophomore Madeline McKernan finished second on platform after a five-round score of 230.45 points. On the men’s side, sophomore Hunter Fritter took fifth with 315.05 points.
Junior Carter Griffin and freshman Alex Walton also led a two-three finish for the Tiger men in the 200 back. Griffin placed second in a season best swim of 1:44.12, while Walton’s third-place 1:45.23 was good enough to rank sixth all-time in the Mizzou record books. Additionally, Schaetzle swam a 1:45.96 to rank ninth all-time in school history.
In the women’s 200 fly, sophomore Sharli Brady swam a time of 1:57.20 to claim second in the event, while sophomore Erin Metzger-Seymour was fifth in 1:59.53.
The divers next compete at the 2015 USA Diving Winter National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dec. 15-20, while the swimming teams are idle until an away dual against LSU on Jan. 14.
West Virginia
Seniors Andrew Marsh and Max Spencer earned top-five finishes as the West Virginia University swimming and diving team concluded the Tennessee Invitational on Sunday in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Mountaineers wrapped up the four team, three day event with strong swims, including Marsh’s fourth appearance in an A final.
“We had a strong day to finish up a very strong meet for us,” WVU coach Vic Riggs said. “Our milers started us off with some good efforts, including Emma Skelley’s personal-best time. Our backstrokers all had unrested best times, and Nate Carr swam a lifetime best. In the 100 freestyle, Jaimee Gillmore and Andrew Marsh led the way with unrested best times as well. Morgan Emter and Max Spencer led our breaststrokers with swims just off their lifetime bests. We finished with our 200 butterfly, and again some very strong swims, with Mariano Adame earning a personal-best time. Our relays were solid, and we know they will get better with rest.
“Overall we had a very strong meet with many swims close to where we were at last year’s Big 12 Championship. The teams have done a great job this fall, and now it’s time to build on this for the next phase of our season.”
Both the WVU men and women finished in fourth place at the three-day invitational. The men scored a 520.5, while the women earned 382 points. Missouri won the men’s competition with a 1,283.5, while Tennessee was second (923) and Virginia Tech third (849.5). Tennessee claimed first in the women’s standings with 1,214.5 points, and Virginia Tech and Missouri tied with 946.5 points.
The morning prelims were competed in long-course meters, while the evening finals were raced in short-course yards.
Marsh earned his fourth A final appearance of the weekend in the 100 freestyle. The senior finished third overall with a time of 44.17, one of six to finish within one second of the bronze medal finish.
Spencer joined Marsh in earning A final honors. The senior advanced to the A final in the 200 breaststroke and finished fifth overall with a time of 1:58.39.
Emma Skelley began the evening finals with a sixth-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle. The junior touched the wall with a personal-best time of 16:32.25 to finish in the top six by nearly 16 seconds. In the men’s 1,650, freshman Lucas Fasulo also finished sixth with a 15:44.48, edging out the seventh-place finisher by 2.58 seconds.
The WVU women divers wrapped up the weekend on platform. Freshman Averly Hobbs highlighted the day with a seventh-place finish with a score of 185.50. She was joined in the top 10 by freshman Mary Smith, who posted a 179.05.
Sophomore diver Alex Obendorf headlined the WVU men on platform and scored a 297.95 to finish ninth.
In the men’s 200 backstroke, Carr led the way with a personal-best 1:47.49 to finish 11th overall after a 2:10.62 long-course time sent him to the B final. Senior Jay Hickey also qualified for the B final and touched the wall in 1:51.08.
For the women in the 200 backstroke, sophomore Amelia Currat and freshman Maggie Miller both advanced to the B final. Currat finished 14th overall with a time of 2:01.91, while Miller finished 16th with a 2:02.75, both with season-best times.
In the women’s 200 breaststroke, senior Morgan Emter was one of four Mountaineers in the B final and finished second in the B final, 10th overall with a 2:19.30, just shy of a personal-best time. Freshman Marah Bieger was 11th overall with a 2:19.86, while sophomore Loren Williams placed 14th with a 2:24.42, and senior Emma Luigard posted a 2:27.90 to finish 15th.
Along with Spencer’s A final appearance in the men’s 200 breaststroke, senior Aidan Fumagalli advanced to the B final, where a 2:03.56 was good for a 14th-place finish.
Four Mountaineers advanced to the B final in the women’s 200 butterfly, led by senior Natalie Johnsen. Johnsen touched the wall in 2:02.98 to finish 12th overall, right ahead of fellow senior Kelsey Frantz, who was 13th in 2:04.27. Freshman Madison Noga was 15th overall with a 2:06.63, while junior Mackenzie Braden touched the wall in 2:07.44 to finish 16th.
The WVU men also saw four swimmers earn B final appearances in the 200 butterfly. Senior Chase Williams led the way with a time of 1:50.98 to finish second in the B final and 10th overall. Adame’s personal-best 1:51.37 earned him an 11th-place finish overall, while junior Nathan Howells was 12th and touched the wall in 1:51.45. Freshman Drew Damich rounded out the B final for WVU with a 1:56.39 to finish 16th.
The weekend concluded with the 400 freestyle relay. WVU’s top men’s team of Marsh, Merwane Elmerini, Carr and Ross Glegg earned a fourth-place finish with a time of 2:58.36. For the women, a 3:28.11 earned the Mountaineers a seventh-place finish, thanks to Sydnee Karam, Celia Martinez, Currat and Gillmore.
The Mountaineers will travel to compete at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals, in Federal Way, Washington, from Dec. 2-5, while the divers compete at the USA Diving Winter Nationals from Dec. 15-20 in Indianapolis in the final competition before the New Year.
