By Mark Dziak
The 2014 Appalachian Swimming Championship was highlighted by a day and a half weather delay which forced the meet to move to a 3-session timed-finals format. In spite of this, the action heated-up at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center with numerous meet records broken throughout the competition. At the end of the day, the meet saw the Cardinals from Wheeling Jesuit University claiming both team titles. This was the second title for the women (2012 Champions) and the fifth straight title for the men.
The meet’s final session began with the 1650 Freestyle. The top three finishers on the women’s side of the event mirrored the same order of the 500 Freestyle. Courtney Hayward of Brenau University continued her assault on the meet records as she swam to a resounding victory in 17:09.54. Hayward smashed the previous record of 17:41.73 which was set last year by 2014 runner-up, Vanessa Gipson of Wheeling Jesuit. Gipson was a bit slower this year as she finished in 17:51.89. Rounding-out the top-three was Kelsi Turk of Notre Dame College in 18:04.52. The men’s 1650 saw one of the more competitive races of the meet. The race was paced early on by Bradley Moore of Union College. Moore was out strong and lead throughout the majority of the race, followed by fellow Bulldog, Dalton Baxter. Waiting however, was 3-time defending champion Henrique Fructuozo of Wheeling Jesuit. Swimming a strategic race, the crafty veteran took out the race very modestly and was in the middle of the pack throughout the first half of the race. Around the halfway mark, Fructuozo started to make his move but was still in third place with 200 yards to go. While Fructuozo was splitting 29’s, the Bulldogs of Union were splitting 30’s; the only question remained was if Fructuozo would be able to catch them. Using all he could muster, Fructuozo blazed passed the pair from Union and captured this event for the fourth time in his career, posting a time of 16:22.20. Baxter finished in second in 16:23.14 and Moore finished in third in 16:23.46.
As the meet moved onto the 200 Backstroke, this is the event in which the Wheeling Jesuit women would make their move to put distance on Brenau and Notre Dame in the team competition. While Talia Sola of Brenau would set a new meet record of 2:02.04, sweeping the backstroke events, Jesuit would place four in the top eight, including Paige Carpenetti’s (the 2013 champion) runner-up finish in 2:06.40. Sarah Reichman of Notre Dame would place third in 2:09.93. The men’s 200 Backstroke would see 2013 champion Kuba Skrzypczak of Wheeling Jesuit repeat in meet-record time of 1:49.23. Second place went to Matt Stover of Urbana in 1:53.17 and third place went to Sal Russo of Mars hill in 1:53.36.
The 100 Freestyle would see repeat champions from earlier in the meet. On the women’s side Freshman Aerika Wieser of Urbana took the race out and had a .35 lead on her nearest competitor at the 50; Anna Davis of Wheeling Jesuit and Callie Harrigan of Union would both use a strong second 50 to come charging home on Wieser. As the three hit the wall, Wieser would out-touch Davis by 0.01 to claim her second title of the weekend in 52.90 to Davis’s 52.91; Harrigan would finish .10 back in 53.00. The men’s 100 Freestyle would see another close finish as David Lambert of Saint Andrews and Hudson Tucker of Mars hill doing battle. Tucker was first at the fifty, flipping in 22.13, 0.11 ahead of Lambert. Lambert, the 50 champion showed his mettle by pushing the second 50 and hitting the wall first in 46.49 to Tucker’s 46.53. Third place went to Alexander Espinoza in 46.97.
The women’s 200 Breaststroke would see another meet record go down. Meghan Ebbert of Wheeling Jesuit would get out to a commanding lead as she hit the wall at the 100 in 1:08.13, over two seconds faster than the next fastest competitor. Ebbert would continue to improve her lead throughout the second half of the swim as she would go on to win this event for the second year in a row and set a new meet record in 2:22.18. Second place would go to Mary Katherine Jabbia of Brenau in 2:27.33 and third would go to Jule Stein from Union in 2:28.99. The men’s 200 Breaststroke title would go to newcomer Ryan Frayne of Saint Andrews University. A pair of Cardinals would finish right behind Frayne as Jandre Strauss (the 2013 champion) and bill Risse of Wheeling Jesuit would finish in 2:07.51 and 2:08.96 respectively.
The meet’s last individual event, the 200 Butterfly, would see the women’s winner come from the first heat, seeded with a NT. Michelle Billeaud of Brenau would swim to the title with a time of 2:12.83. Billeaud would be followed by Alexis Anderson of Wheeling Jesuit in 2:13.42 and Alexa Pigliacampi from Alderson Broaddus University in 2:17.57. The men’s side of the event would see Kim Helander follow-up his victory in the 100 Butterfly by swimming to a convincing win in 1:53.40. Helander would be followed by Jose Jesus Morales of Union who came in second in 1:57.16 and Ryan Nicklous of Alderson Broaddus in third with a time of 1:58.07.
The meet would conclude with the 400 Freestyle Relays. On the women’s side, Brenau University would capture their fourth relay title of the weekend. The quartet of Courtney Hayward, Mary Katherine Jabbia, Shelby Rumker, and Michelle Billeaud would swim to victory in 3:35.40. Notre Dame finished in second in 3:36.65 and wheeling Jesuit would come in third in 3:37.90. The Lions of Mars Hill would take home the men’s relay with the Hudson Tucker, Trey Mason, Mladen Senicar, and Drew Rosser swimming to a resounding victory in 3:07.70. The Knights of Saint Andrews came in second din 3:09.62 and rounding out the top three was Urban University in 3:10.93.
The start of the session saw three women’s teams within 18 points of each other. The women of Wheeling Jesuit used strong performances throughout the evening to capture the team title with 562 points to Brenau’s 519 and Notre Dame’s 501. The women’s Swimmer of the Meet went to Courtney Hayward of Brenau, the weekend’s only 3-event winner. Based on their performance, Coach Blaire Bachman of Brenau was rewarded with Coach-of-the-Year honors for the second year in a row.
The men’s meet was less in question as Wheeling Jesuit dominated the meet from start to finish, tallying 587.5 points throughout the weekend. Behind them saw various teams jockeying for position. Mars Hill, who finished fourth in 2012 and third in 2013 would find themselves runner-up with 474 points. Third place went to Urbana, who moved-up from a sixth-place finish in 2013 to finish in 426 points and their first podium finish. Kuba Skrzypczak of Wheeling Jesuit would be named the men’s Swimmer of the Meet due to his three event wins. Coach Mike Meyers would make it a sweep as he was named the men’s Coach-of-the-Year.
The final team standings:
Women
Wheeling Jesuit University 562
Brenau University 519
Notre Dame College 501
Union College 333
Asbury University 290
King University 267
Urbana University 238
Mars Hill University 223
Alderson Broaddus University 204
Milligan College 162
Saint Andrews University 82
Warren Wilson College 70
West Virginia University Tech 2
Men
Wheeling Jesuit University 587.5
Mars Hill University 474
Urbana University 426
Saint Andrews University 419.5
Union College 388
Asbury University 256
West Virginia University Tech 177
Alderson Broaddus University 171
Millgan College 162
King University 128.5
Notre Dame College 121.5
Warren Wilson College 70
