Miami (OH) Women
Winning 13 events, the Miami University women’s swimming & diving team climbed back to .500 after defeating Ball State by a 188-109 decision at the Nixon Aquatic Center Friday night. The RedHawks move to 2-2 on the season and 1-1 in Mid-American Conference action.
Freshman Grace Van Fossen earned her first two collegiate wins in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:40.27) and 100-yard butterfly (57.94). The RedHawks swept the 1000-yard freestyle, with freshman Sarah Wolanske touching the wall in second place (10:40.27) and sophomore Casey Frazier in third place (10:55.14).
The RedHawks also swept two other events. The 100-yard backstroke was done with the 1-2-3 punch of senior Emma Szczupakiewicz (58.83), freshman Kelsey High (59.44) and sophomore Morgan Quesnel (1:00.68). The 200-yard backstroke was swept by the team of sophomore Katie Kuhl (2:05.40), senior Shannon Ahearn (2:07.49) and sophomore Rachel Baker (2:08.62).
For the diving squad, junior Pei Lin won the one-meter dive (309.00) and junior Taylor LeCount won the three-meter dive (279.52).
Five other Miami swimmers won individual events. Junior Julia Campbell finished first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.60), senior Natalie Rohr clocked in first in the 100-yard freestyle (53.36). The 200-yard breaststroke was won by sophomore Lainey Massaro (2:24.91). Junior Logan Klinsky won the 500-yard freestyle for the second straight time this season (5:09.40), while sophomore Holly Schuster came in first place in the 400-yard IM (4:30.93).
The RedHawks are back in the pool Saturday, Oct. 31 to take on Buffalo at 1 p.m. in the Nixon Aquatic Center.
Miami (OH) Men
In their first away meet of the season, the Miami University men’s swimming and diving team suffered a loss on Friday evening to Purdue University with a final score of 178-117 in the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. The RedHawks move to 1-1 on the season.
After two weeks of preparation, the men returned to the water to take on the Boilermakers. Many on the team saw improvements on their times from their last meet against Xavier.
Senior Evan Bader knocked almost a full second off of his time in the 100-yard breaststroke. Bader swam to a final time of 57.81, garnering first place. The breaststroke specialist slimmed his time down by two seconds in the 200-yard breaststroke, where he collected a second-place finish for Miami. Senior Christopher Dieter knocked two seconds off of his time in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.95), good enough for a second-place finish.
Junior Lucas Brock made significant contributions to the team with top finishes in multiple events. Brock claimed first in the 200-yard freestyle with his time of 1:42.49. The junior swimmer also took third in the 100-yard freestyle and returned later in the meet to swim a leg of 400-yard freestyle relay.
The RedHawks saw impressive finishes from newcomers and returning swimmers alike. In the 200-yard IM, sophomore Ross Rybakowicz claimed first (1:59.58), with Bader just seconds behind. Senior Sean Neri claimed second in the 100-yard backstroke with his final time of 52.29, followed by freshman Jake Precious in third.
In the one-meter diving competition, senior Michael Nash claimed second (310.35) followed by freshman Harrison Moncino. Moncino also claimed second in the three-meter competition, tallying a total of 332.40 points.
Miami is back on the road again in two weekends when a portion of the team will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to compete in the Arena Pro Series Nov. 12-14, while another group of swimmers will go to Columbus to face Ohio State on Nov. 13.
Ball State
The Ball State women's swimming and diving team continued Mid-American Conference action Friday evening on the road against host Miami. The Cardinals had a strong showing in which it claimed three consecutive individual event wins, in addition to 16 individual top-three finishes, although they fell to the RedHawks 188-109.
In diving action, senior Madie Zirzow put on a show when she earned a score of 289.95 on the one-meter, which is an NCAA zone qualifying score, places her second overall in the Ball State record book, and earned her a second place finish against the RedHawks. Zirzow also finished third in three-meter action with a season-best score of 267.22.
In the lanes, sophomore Amanda Kedzierski topped the 100 breaststroke by touching the wall in 1:06.06. Kedzierski also earned a third place finish in the 200 breast with a 2:27.54 final, in addition to two second place finishes in the 400 medley relay (3:58.13) and 200 freestyle relay (1:39.60).
Sophomore Traci Muszalski followed up Kedzierski’s first place finish with one of her own in the 200 butterfly, in which she clocked in at a season-best 2:09.25.
Rounding out the top swim finishes for the Cardinals was junior Jessica Extine, posting a season-best 24.20 in the 50 free. Extine then went on to finish second in the 100 free with another season-best of 53.38, in addition to the two second place finishes with Kedzierski in the 400 medley and 200 free relays.
Juniors Katie Horn and Kimberly Scott each earned second place honors twice against the RedHawks, totaling 16 points for the Cardinals. Horn’s included the 200 fly with a 2:09.85 season-best time, followed by the 100 fly (59.02), while Scott finished with season-bests of 1:57.90 in the 200 free and 4:38.63 in the 400 IM.
Sophomore diver Taylor Fiew not only earned fourth overall in one-meter competition, but also posted a career-best 260.84 score. Fiew then went on to post a season-high of 238.35 in the three-meter competition. Fellow divers Brittany Penn and Quinn Bixler also earned new season-high scores on both the one- and three-meter boards against the RedHawks.
Up next, the women’s swimming and diving program will welcome MAC foe Eastern Michigan to the Lewellen Aquatic Center tomorrow, Oct. 31 for a dual meet at 1 p.m.
