Ohio State Men
Close finishes and several notable individual performances highlighted Ohio State’s 203-97 dual meet victory over Kentucky on Friday evening.
The first event of the day was all Ohio State; Matt McHugh, DJ MacDonald, Ching Lim, and Mossimo Chavez captured the 200 medley relay with a season-best time of 1:28.32. That was followed by one of the closest races of the evening, the 1000 freestyle. Brayden Seal and Kentucky’s Drew Aviotti were both neck and neck for the final few laps, with Aviotti (9:11.03) just narrowly edging out Seal (9:11.04) to take first place. In the process, both swimmers broke the previous pool record of 9:14.30. In another photo finish, Steffen Hillmer tied with Kentucky’s Isaac Jones in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:39.68 while another UK swimmer placed first, giving the Wildcats the lead.
The 100 backstroke followed, as did the Buckeyes’ lead. McHugh (47.11) blew past the competition in the 100 backstroke with his NCAA provisional time, while teammate Mark Belanger (49.51) narrowly edged out a UK swimmer for second place. That OSU momentum kept rolling in the 100 breaststroke with DJ MacDonald (55.38), Michael Eaton (55.88), and Jack Barone (56.13) taking the top three spots. Following the theme of the meet, the 200 butterfly was yet another hotly-contested event that came down to a tiny margin. UK’s Kyle Higgins (1:46.37) edged out Lim (1:46.38) for the top spot, though three Buckeyes followed after that, helping to extend Ohio State’s lead. The final event heading into the first break was the 50 freestyle, which was won by Kentucky’s Cobe Garcia (20.21). Nathan Christian was the top Ohio State finisher in that event with a time of 20.76, squeaking by teammate Chavez at 20.79.
After coming back from break, McHugh’s good day continued with a first place finish in the 100 freestyle. His time of 44.63 bested the next two finishers, Wildcat Sean Gunn and OSU’s Christian. Those two tied for second place with their time of 45.29. Gus Whiteman (1:47.72) and Andrew Appleby (1:48.30) then took the top two spots in the 200 backstroke, extending the Ohio State lead even further.
A couple of seniors duked it out for the fastest 200 breaststroke time with MacDonald (2:02.19) swimming past teammate Dmitry Dolgov (2:02.63) for his second individual win of the meet. Lim then gave Ohio State another NCAA B time (48.15) with his performance in the 100 butterfly before both teams headed into the final break.
Though it should come as no surprise by this point, Colin Zeng and the rest of the Ohio State divers had another great night. Zeng outscored all comers in the three-meter diving event with his score of 419.30, while teammate Clay White’s score of 381.23 was good enough to place first in the platform dive.
The final two events were won by Buckeyes. Senior Chris DePietro won the 200 IM with his time of 1:51.67 and the foursome of Christian, Appleby, Hillmer, and McHugh (3:00.11) beat out Kentucky’s top relay team in the 400 freestyle relay.
The Buckeyes will take their undefeated dual meet record into tomorrow’s matchups with Buffalo, Michigan, and West Virginia. Swimming is slated to begin at 1 pm, with Senior Day activities expected to start around 12:40. Ohio State’s six seniors- Keeler Callahan, Chris DePietro, Dmitry Dolgov, Peter Lyon, DJ MacDonald, and Jovan Mitrovic- will be honored prior to the start of the meet.
Ohio State Women
The Ohio State women’s swimming and diving teams were back in the pool today, defeating Kentucky 193-107 in the first of two meets this weekend.
It was a rousing start for the Buckeyes, who swam a season-best 1:40.11 (Camey Rabold, Rachael Dzierzak, Liz Li, and Annie Jongekrijg) to win the 200 medley relay and also nabbed second place thanks to an excellent performance by Macie McNichols. Lindsey Clary (9:55.16) and Alex Wittman (9:59.86) followed that up by going 1-2 in the 1000 freestyle. Katy Luchansky then won the 200 freestyle with her time of 1:49.41; Christi DiPaolo (1:50.06) wasn’t far behind in third place.
Kentucky won its first event of the evening in the 100 backstroke; Danielle Galyer just beat out Li (54.80) for the top spot in that event. Buckeye domination followed in the 100 breastroke with Taylor Vargo, Dzierzak, and Katie Antal placing first, second, and third. Vargo’s time of 1:02.30 was enough to fall just under the NCAA provisional cut time. Another NCAA B time came in the next event when Amy Bopp (1:58.89) won the 200 butterfly, besting teammate Meg Bailey (2:00.48) who placed second. McNichols continued her nice evening by placing first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.03; Jongekrijg wasn’t far behind at 23.12.
After the break Ohio State continued its strong performances, placing the top three finishers in the 100 freestyle led by Jongekrijg (50.83). UK’s Galyer, also having a strong meet to this point, won the 200 backstroke, beating out Zulal Zeren (1:58.86) for the top spot in that event. Bopp and Vargo battled it out in the 200 breaststroke with Bopp coming out on top; her time of 2:13.77 bested Vargo’s 2:15.16 as the two Buckeyes took first and second, respectively.
A Wildcat finished first in the 500 freestyle, the second time a UK swimmer won an event today. Cara Norris was the top Ohio State finisher in that event, swimming a time of 4:54.25. In the last event before the second and final break, Bailey was the top finisher in the 100 butterfly (55.39), just beating out Kentucky’s top finisher (55.43).
On the boards it was another strong meet for Ohio State’s divers. Hannah Thek won both the platform and three-meter diving events, posting scores of 62.33 and 348.60 respectively. Haley Allen also had a good night on the three-meter dive, coming in behind Thek with a score of 328.28.
UK’s Galyer (2:03.60) won her third event of the meet in the 200 IM, beating DiPaolo (2:03.61) in a close finish, of which there were many. To close out the meet, Ohio State’s 400 freestyle relay team of Maria Coy, Chantel Wynn, Emily Albrecht, and Kathleen Cook (3:27.97) cruised to a first place finish, capping off another dual meet victory for the Buckeyes.
Tomorrow, Saturday, Ohio State will take to the pool once again to face Michigan and West Virginia. Competition starts at 1 pm.
Kentucky
The Kentucky swimming and diving team posted multiple dual season bests on Friday evening, but ultimately dropped a pair of duals to Ohio State. The men fell in a 203-97 decision to the No. 15 Buckeyes, while the women suffered a 193-107 setback to No. 25 OSU.
Overall, the men and the women each won four events against the Buckeyes.
The men’s dual featured two thrilling finishes in the 1000 free and the 200 fly, in which a Wildcat swimmer out-touched an OSU athlete by one-hundredth of a second. Drew Aviotti picked up another win in a dual-best time of 9:11.03 over Ohio State’s Brayden Seal, a mark that shattered the pool record by three seconds. Higgins also got the better of a Buckeye in the 200 fly, winning in 1:46.37 for a dual season best and an NCAA B cut over Ching Lim. Lim would retaliate with a win over Higgins in the 100 fly, in which he finished runner-up in 48.77 seconds.
Kentucky saw two more winning times in the freestyle races. In the 200 free, Scott Crosthwaite and Isaac Jones delivered a 1-2 punch in 1:39.19 and 1:39.68, respectively. Crosthwaite went on to swim a 4:30.31 to take third in the 500 free, while Jones finished runner-up in the 200 IM in 1:52.56. The final victory came by way of Cobe Garcia in the 50 free, with the freshman picking up his first collegiate win in a personal-best 20.21 seconds. Rounding out the free sprints, Sean Gunn tied for second in the 100 free in 45.29 seconds.
Walker Thaning continued to lead the backstroke corps, touching in third in both the 100 and 200 back in 49.53 and 1:48.46, a dual season best in the mid-distance race. In the breaststroke races, George Greenhalgh paced the Blue and White in both distances. Greenhalgh dropped a tight race in the 200 breast, finishing third in 2:03.03, while he placed fourth in the 100 breast in 56.22 seconds.
In the diving events, Noah Richter paced the team on the 3-meter springboard, finishing third with a career-best 316.65 points while Seb Masterton took fourth with 310.58 points. Masterton went on to finish fourth in the platform to lead the Wildcats, notching 321.00 points.
Both UK relays finished runner-up to OSU. The 200 medley relay of Thaning, Greenhalgh, Higgins and Garcia touched in at 1:30.09, the fastest of the season by nearly .40 seconds. The men then notched another season-best to cap the meet, with Gunn, Crosthwaite, Higgins and Garcia combining for a 3:01.40, marking just the second time this season that the men have dipped below the 3:02.00 barrier.
On the women’s side, Danielle Galyer swept her events with NCAA B cuts in the 100 and 200 back. Galyer and Bridgette Alexander went 1-3 in both races, going 54.56 and 55.31 in the 100 back before touching in at 1:6.36 and 1:59.50 in the 200 back. Galyer finished up her individual events with a victory in the 200 IM in 2:03.60, while Alexander led the team in the 50 free in 24.23 seconds for a sixth-place finish.
The final victory for the women came from Geena Freriks in the 500 free. After picking up her first collegiate win in the event last week, Freriks followed it up with another victory in 4:53.93. The freshman also paced the team in the 200 free, placing runner-up in 1:49.90.
Haley McInerny picked up a runner-up finish in the 100 fly, just four-hundredths of a second off a win in 55.43 seconds. She also finished third in the 200 fly in 2:01.27, and led the team in the 100 free with a 51.94 for fourth, besting her previous personal best by a hundredth of a second. In the breaststroke races, Kendra Crew finished third in the 200 breast in 2:16.86 and fourth in the 100 breast in 1:04.34, with Ann Davies right behind her in 2:20.30 and 1:04.43.
Ohio State took the top two times in the 1000 free, with Kathryn Painter and Kelly Berger placing third and fourth in 10:05.45 and 10:05.78.
In the diving events, Kailey Francetic placed third in the 3-meter springboard with 271.50 points, while Courtney Clark took runner-up in the platform dive.
The UK relays nabbed a runner-up finish in the 400 free relay while placing third in the 200 medley relay. In the 400 free relay, Freriks teamed up with Olivia Treski, Kendal Casey and Meredith Whisenhunt to post a 3:33.78, while the 200 medley relay team of Galyer, Crew, McInerny and Freriks clocked in at 1:42.61.
Kentucky will return to Lexington tomorrow for Senior Day. The Wildcats will honor their four seniors, Crosthwaite, Greenhalgh, Frida Jakobsson and Matt Roman, while the team takes on the Cincinnati Bearcats at 1 p.m. inside Lancaster Aquatic Center.
