The Iowa State swimming and diving team earned their second event victory at the Northwestern TYR Invitational Saturday at the Norris Aquatics Center. The Cyclones maintained their third place position with 407 points. Host Northwestern continues to lead with 567 points.
"I think we swam really strong in prelims and we put out a tremendous effort in our swims, but our places were rather disappointing," head coach Duane Sorenson said. "In the finals though, we were able to come back. We swam well and were able to move up. We swam a very good session and are looking to close up the gap with Illinois."
Dani Harris was able to defend her 100 back title from last year's invitational, finishing first in both prelims and finals, clocking in with a time of 55.78 in the finals, her best for the season.
"Dani swam a very tough swim, and this event really showed her toughness," Sorenson said. "After not being able to train like she did last year, it really shows her toughness."
Harris was also joined by Sarah Norris, who finished fifth with a time of 57.10 in the 100 back. Also earning points and personal best times were Bre Loeschke and Kristy Kinkel. Loeschke finished ninth with a time of 56.56 and Kunkel finished in 14th with a time of 58.56
"I think Sarah Norris is really coming into her own and gaining confidence; I am just really pleased," Sorenson noted.
To begin the evening, the Cyclone 200 medley relay squad of Harris, Emily Wiltsie, Norris and Amanda Paulson finished with a time of 1:44.37 for a strong fourth place finish and 10th-fastest time in Cyclone history.
In the 400 IM Kristy Kunkel emerged with a seventh place finish. Sarah Deis continued to show success in the pool as well with an 11th place finish and time of 4:29.29, sixth overall in Cyclone history in the 400 IM. Wiltsie and Elizabeth Kleiner also proved to be great competition in the event with 13th and 16th place finishes with times of 4:29.57 and 4:41.10, respectively.
Norris earned her second of three top-eight finishes of the evening in the 100 butterfly event, leading the Cyclones with an eighth place finish and time of 56.86. Paulson finished in 11th with a time of 57.26 and Carissa Poeschel finished 15th, touching the wall at 58.15.
The Cyclones saw success yet again in the 100 breaststroke event. Wiltsie touched the wall in fourth place with a time of 1:03.65. Marley Suckow finished in seventh place with a time of 1:04.65 and Ali Stearns touched with a time of 1:04.88 for a ninth place finish and personal-best.
The Cyclones ended the day with ninth and 11th place finishes in the 800 freestyle relay. The relay team of Kunkel, Alex Gustafson, Deis and Kleiner finished with a time of 7:40.00 and the squad of Meredith Doran, Katie Vollhaber, Paulson and Bri Carlberg clocked in at 7:41.97.
"Tomorrow will be a dog fight between Northwestern, Illinois, Cleveland State and Iowa State to see who will win," Sorenson said. "We are going to try to swim and dive our very best."
In the diving well, Jessica Nicholson finished the 1-meter board in fifth place with a final score of 253.45.
"As a team I think we did a lot better," diving coach Jeff Warrick said. "I was happy to see Jessica Nicholson make it to finals and see Sarah Nelson really step it up, but we still have some improvements."
Sarah Nelson and Jenn Botsch also earned points for the Cyclones with Nelson's 10th place finish and score of 230.50 and Botsch's final score of 185.70 to finish in 16th.
"Tomorrow on platform we are expecting we do well; it is our best event and we are ready for it and very excited," Warrick said.
The Fighting Illini swimmers and divers completed their second day of competition at the Northwestern Invitational on Saturday and remain in second place with 445 points through 15 events. Northwestern retained first place with 567 points. Two Illini moved into the all-time fastest individuals list, while 20 swimmers - four in two events apiece - and four divers represented the Illini in the finals session.
"I thought we came back well this morning and had some good swims," head coach Sue Novitsky said. "They competed well and gave themselves a lot of opportunities for second swims, as did the divers on the boards. I thought we got better as the night went along. I thought we established our positions in the heats very well. Courtney Pope had a great day; she was a warrior today. Alison Meng also stepped up and did a lot for us. It's good to see a lot ofpeople contributing to second swims and taking advantage of them to get faster."
The Illini got off to a quick start for the second straight night, capturing a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay, as freshman Alison Meng, seniors Rachel Japp Joyce and Brittany McGowan and sophomore Courtney Pope posted aseason-best time of 1:44.69. Illinois continued its relay success with a second-place finish in the 800 free relay, as seniors Kelly Kunkel and Kristen Manias, Pope and junior Erin Lamb posted a time of 7:30.74.
In individual races, Meng finished third in the 100 back (56.78) after posting a 56.76 in prelims, which tied the fifth-fastest individual in the 100 back in school history. Meng also captured 14th in the 100 fly (57.98) after posting a personal-best time (56.96) in prelims.
Pope posted a third-place finish for Illinois with a lifetime best of 1:49.78 in the 200 free, making her the seventh fastest Illini to swim the event. She was closely followed in the 200 free by Lamb, who finished fifth with a time of1:51.87, and Manias, who finished in eighth (1:53.57) after securing a personal best (1:52.65) in prelims.
Junior Erin Rodriguez put together a solid sixth-place finish in the 400 IM with atime of 4:29.12 after racing to a season-best time of 4:26.77 during prelims, while McGowan placed seventh in the 100 fly (56.84) after setting a new season-best time (56.39) in prelims.
The Illini were also aided by sophomore Erica Lynn, who swam to an eighth-place finish in the 100 breast (1:05.02), junior Alyssa Petruzzello, who finished ninth in the 100 fly (57.06) and Kunkel, who earned 11th in the 200 free (1:52.92).
Also contributing points were senior April McKee in the 100 fly (57.43), freshman Mary Beth Howard, who swam a personal best in the 200 free (1:53.27), sophomore Jessica Holz in the 100 back (57.90) and Japp Joyce in the 100 breast (1:06.44).
On the boards, junior Tessa Adams captured fourth place in the one-meter final with a score of 258.45, while classmate Darragh McDermott finished seventh (245.95).
The Missouri State swimming & diving team has made the most out of its trip to Evanston, Ill. for the TYR Invitational, producing top marks in every event on Friday and Saturday. Through 30 events, the men hold a slight edge over the Northwestern Wildcats for first place in the team standings, 624-619. The women remain in sixth place after two days of action.
"The team had another great day," associate head coach Dave Collins said. "We are going to have to bounce back tomorrow and have a big day, but we feel pretty confident in our ‘Day 3’ events. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere tomorrow."
Freshman Vitalii Baryshok scored the Bears first victory of the invitational in the 200 freestyle. Heading into the weekend, the Lugansk, Ukraine was ranked 10th in the country in the event, and did nothing to hurt that position. Baryshok dropped 1.5 seconds off his season-best with a time of 1:46.93. His new mark is an NCAA "B" cut and was just .4 seconds shy of the Missouri State varsity record.
In diving, freshmen Garrett Nevels and Elijah Swaim placed in the championship final. Nevels tallied 274.90 points for sixth place, while Swaim was eighth and recorded his best mark this season on the 3-meter board with 237.75 points.
Dropping time from the morning session, both Daan Jansen and Chris Carpenter scored valuable points in the 400 IM, placing second and fourth out of the collegiate swimmers.
Another loaded event for the Bears was the 100 fly where Michal Bulak, Matthew Wilson and Paul Le combined for 46 points in the finals heat. The trio finished first, third and fourth out of collegiate swimmers.
Northwestern closed the gap on the men’s lead in the 100 backstroke when it supplied four swimmers in the championship final heat in addition to four in consolations. But, the Bears didn’t go away empty-handed in the 100 back. The duo of Paul Le and Yuri Garanito finished second and third, respectively, with Matthew Wilson and Aaron Henry scoring eighth- and ninth-place points.
Closing out the night, the quartet of Schuermann, Sims, Baryshok and McKnight secured a second-place finish in the 800 free relay (6:42.69) behind Northwestern’s A relay.
To begin the evening, the MSU women got off to a great start finishing third in the 200 medley relay (1:44.09). The group led byAnna Ahlin, Renata Sander, Roni Balzam and Ali Stauffer surpassed its season-best by three seconds and placed ahead of Iowa State, Illinois, Nebraska.
Reigning MVC Swimmer of the Week, Roni Balzam, landed a fourth-place finish in the 100 fly and continued to back up the accolades with her top times.
The women had one of their most productive events in the 100 breaststroke placing two swimmers in the top-eight. Melissa Oishi and Sander placed fifth and sixth, finishing within .07 seconds of each other.
Sophomore Anna Ahlin once again shined in the 100 backstroke, grabbing the women’s highest finish in second place (56.03). Freshman Megan Holthoff also made her way into the championship finals heat, placing eighth.
"We were very happy with the way the women swam," Collins commented. "Our team is really rising to the occasion, especially in this meet with the BCS-level of competition. We take a lot of pride in our longer events, so if that holds true, we should finish pretty strong tomorrow."