Wingate continued to dominate the SCAD Invitational in Savannah.
Wingate Press Release
Savannah, Ga.----The nationally-ranked Wingate University men's and women's swimming teams continue to set the pace in the Savannah College of Art and Design Invitational Friday night at the Chatham County Aquatic Center (Saturday's results). Both Bulldog teams top the team leader boards, as the two teams combined to win 12 events on day two of the three-day competition.
#9 Wingate women's recap
Wingate freshman Abby Kosic (West Chester, Pa.) was one of five Bulldog student-athletes to win an individual events. She was the only Bulldog to swim on both of Friday's triumphant relays (the 200 Freestyle Relay and the 400 Medley Relay). Kosic touched first in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:50.51 as Wingate student-athletes occupied the top seven spots.
Kosic started her Friday evening by swimming the third leg on the 200 Freestyle Relay quartet (1:34.23). She was joined by senior Caitlin Coughlin (Cochranville, Pa.), junior Alex Divelbiss (Pueblo, Colo.) and sophomore Maria Madsen (Dragoer, Denmark). Divelbiss won the 400 Individual Medley with her triumphant time of 4:27.33, edging freshman teammate Charlotte Knippenburg (Atlanta, Ga.) and her 4:27.68 clocking.
In the session-ending 400 Medley Relay, Kosic swam the final leg as Wingate won the gold medal with a time of 3:44.19. Her three teammates were senior Academic All-America Vika Arkhipova (Seversk, Russia), graduate student Olga Kosheleva (Yekaterinburg, Russia) and freshman Ebba Stillman (Huskvarna, Sweden). Arkhipova and Stillman both won an individual event, with Arkhipova collecting a silver medal as well.
Stillman won the 100 Butterfly (55.46) with Arkhipova a close second (56.38). Later in the evening, Arkhipova touched first in the 100 Backstroke with her time of 55.82. Bulldog junior Miranda Seegars (Monroe, N.C.) was third in the 100 Backstroke thanks to her time of 57.57.
Kosheleva won an action-packed 100 Breaststroke with her time of 1:02.16. Close at her heels was WU senior Jessika Weiss (Macon, Ga.) at 1:02.34. Bulldog junior Marinela Procopii (Hickory, N.C.) won the 100 Breaststroke "B" final with her time of 1:08.25.
Fourteen teams have posted points through two days of the SCAD Savannah Invitational. Wingate is first with 895 markers. The rest of the top five is Emory (390), the host SCAD Bees (257), Brenau (226) and Converse (143).
#10 Wingate men's recap
Wingate redshirt junior Sebastian Holmberg (Njutånger, Sweden) won two individual events and contributed to a relay triumph for the Navy Blue and Vegas Gold-clad Bulldogs. He touched first in the 100 Butterfly (48.35) and the 100 Backstroke (49.52). WU sophomore Niklas Martin (Kempton, Germany) was second in both events with times of 49.56 (100 Fly) and 49.64 (100 Back), respectively.
Holmberg concluded his evening by swimming the third leg as Wingate claimed the gold medal in the 400 Medley Relay (3:18.56). His teammates were Martin, freshman Leo Zabudkin (Frankfurt, Germany) and senior Leif-Henning Klüver (Risum-Lindholm, Germany). Holmberg, Klüver, junior Tripp Wright (Cypress, Texas) and senior team captain Mehdi Zeraidi (Brussels, Belgium) finished second in the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:23.01).
Zabudkin won the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 56.24. Classmate Giacomo Viazzo (Lonato del Gardo, Italy) was a close second thanks to his 56.59 clocking. WU senior Øystein Fjeldberg (Oslo, Norway) won the 400 Individual Medley (3:59.98) with freshman teammate Ben Evans (Dover, England) taking second place (4:02.44). Redshirt sophomore Lennart Queiss (Langen, Germany) was third in the 200 Freestyle (1:39.35).
The Bulldogs are first in the 11-team men's field with 695.5 points through Friday night's events. The two through five spots on the team leader board are occupied by Keiser (450), Emory (324), SCAD Savannah (265) and Thomas (242).
The three-day SCAD Invitational concludes Saturday with morning preliminaries and evening finals. The Bulldog women have eight SCAD Savannah Invitational titles, while the Wingate men have collected seven first-place trophies in the annual event.
Catawba Press Release
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Both Catawba swim teams stand sixth after two days of the SCAD Invite. The meet is being held at the Chatham County Aquatic Center through Saturday. The women have posted 102 points and are sixth among 14 schools. The men have accumulated 206.5 points and are sixth of 11.
On Friday, the men's 400 medley relay team of Arnold Blohme, Michael King, Mario Zaninovic and Robert McCue swam to a second-place finish, posing a time of 3:23.86 which marked the fourth best time in school history. On Thursday, the 200 medley relay team of Dominik Brus, Federico Borrego Higareda, Joao Borreto and Aly Hegazi placed third.
Catawba had numerous finals swims on Friday. For the men, Borreto had the best finish with a fourth in the 100 fly (50.01). Zaninovic and King went fifth and sixth in the 400IM. Zaninovic had a time of 4:09.12 with King touching in 4:12.39.
Also claiming fifth-place finishes was Hegazi in the 200 free (1:40.70) and Higareda in the 100 breast (57.06). Hegazi's time was the eighth best all-time, while Higareda posted the 18th-best time. Brus picked up an eight-place finish in the 100 back (53.68) with Blohme finishing 12th (53.87).
The women started Friday's finals with an eighth-place finish in in the 200 free relay. The team of Amy Cujas, Cassie Shear, Susanne Reeg and Emily Najar had the 10th-best time in school history with a 1:41.44. Both relay teams were seventh on Thursday. Cujas, Shear, Reeg and Najar had the 11th best time in the 200 medley (1:52.15), while Shear, Jess Daniel, Marcia-Mariel Erhart and Najar had a time of 8:20.44 in the 800 free relay.
Individually, Shear took eighth in the final of the 100 breast (1:07.88). Her prelim time of 1:06.75 was the fifth-best time in school history. Erhart won the 'B' Final in the 400 IM (4:44.66) and Najar the 'C' Final of the 200 free (2:00.38). Reeg was 15th in the 100 fly (1:01.09) and Cujas 16th in the 100 back (1:01.48).
Thursday's best finishes for the women came in the 500 free. Erhart touched 13th (5:20.60) and Najar placed 16th (5:25.44).
Higareda added a sixth-place finish on Thursday for the men in the 200 IM with a 1:54.04, the ninth best record time. Barreto was sixth in the 50 free (21.34) and Zaninovic eighth in the 500 free with a ninth-best time of 4:40.26. Hegazi was 11th in the 500 free (4:43.17).
