The West Virginia University men’s swimming and diving team won every event en route to a dominating victory over Villanova on Senior Night Friday at the WVU Natatorium. The WVU women faced Iowa State and Villanova.
The Mountaineer men led from the first race and never looked back to earn a 200-77 victory over Villanova. The Mountaineer women were in a tight competition throughout the meet with Iowa State, but the Cyclones prevailed in the final race for a 158-141 win. Villanova beat the WVU women, 175-122.
The WVU men won every race, including taking the top six spots in one event, the top five finishes in both diving events, 1-2-3-4 finishes in six competitions and 1-2-3 finishes in three races.
The men had a very strong showing and I think our racing was good,” WVU coach Vic Riggs said. “If we can take those swims tomorrow and improve on them, we should do very well.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have our best meet today on the women’s side. Though we had some very solid swims and did have some improvement in some areas, our energy was not where it needed to be. You lose a close meet once it’s one thing, but to lose two in a row is an indication we are missing something and that’s what I expressed to them after the meet. We have one month to find it and I know we will work very hard over the next four weeks to get ready for the Big 12 Championships.”
Seniors Ross Glegg, Andrew Marsh and Max Spencer and sophomore James Koval each posted two individual victories. Senior Chase Williams, juniors Nate Carr and Nathan Howells and freshman Merwane Elmerini all earned one victory in the pool, while sophomores Alex Obendorf and Michael Proietto earned the two diving victories. The WVU men also earned two relay wins, with Carr, Spencer, Marsh and Glegg in the 400 medley relay, and Marsh, Glegg, junior Frank Csonka and Elmerini in the 200 freestyle relay.
For the women, senior Lindsay Schmidt and junior Emma Skelley posted victories against both Villanova and Iowa State for the Mountaineers. Additionally, Seniors Jaimee Gillmore and Courtney Miller and freshman Emma Harris earned runner-up finishes against the Wildcats and Cyclones.
WVU’s men’s squad finished 1-2-3-4 in the 400 medley relay, 200 freestyle 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, and 100 freestyle. The Mountaineer men added a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke and 400 individual medley and a 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle. The WVU divers swept the top five spots on both the men’s 1- and 3-meter. West Virginia also earned the top six finishes in the 200 breaststroke, but exhibitioned the second-sixth-place finishers.
Before the meet, the Mountaineers recognized their 15 seniors: Morgan Emter, Kelsey Frantz, Aidan Fumagalli, Jaimee Gillmore, Ross Glegg, Jay Hickey, Jake Iotte, Natalie Johnsen, Emma Luigard, Andrew Marsh, Courtney Miller, Katie Murto, Lindsay Schmidt, Max Spencer and Chase Williams.
To open the meet, the men swept the top four finishes in the 400 yard medley relay. Carr, Spencer, Marsh and Glegg won the event, touching the wall in 3:22.39. WVU’s second relay finished in 3:27.79.
Both the WVU men and women saw first-place finishes in the 1,000 freestyle, with Skelley wining it for the women (10:13.85) followed by Koval for the men (9:49.29).
Marsh posted his first individual win of the day in the 200 freestyle for the Mountaineers, touching the wall in 1:40.09. He was followed by sophomore Chris McMahon in second (1:44.86), freshman Jake Williams in third (1:46.59) and senior Jake Iotte in fourth (1:47.24).
WVU posted its second 1-2-3-4 men’s showing in as many events in the 100 backstroke. Elmerini won with a 52.12, and fellow freshman Fernando Duenas was right behind him with a 52.50 to finish second. Senior Jay Hickey placed third (53.93) and freshman Jake Preaskorn was fourth (55.71).
The Mountaineers made it three consecutive 1-2-3-4 finishes with a strong performance in the men’s 100 breaststroke. Spencer won in 55.97, and senior Aidan Fumagalli placed second with a 58.02. Freshman Jake Armstrong was third (1:00.75) and sophomore Drew Riebel came in fourth (1:01.79).
West Virginia earned a 1-2-3 finish in the next men’s event, the 200 butterfly. Howells earned the win in 1:56.59, and he was followed by sophomore Mariano Adame (1:57.89) and junior Austin Green (1:58.17).
In the men’s 50 freestyle, Glegg was first with a 21.09, followed closely by Carr, 0.10 seconds later with a 21.19.
Glegg won his second consecutive race as WVU racked up another 1-2-3-4 finish in the men’s 100 freestyle. The senior touched the wall in first with a 46.30, followed by Elmerini (47.04), Csonka (47.88) and McMahon (47.98).
Marsh earned his second individual victory with a 1:49.66 in the 200 backstroke. Hickey finished second in 1:57.50 and Preaskorn was third in 1:59.87 to give WVU its second 1-2-3 finish of the meet.
Spencer recorded another win in the 200 breaststroke thanks to a 2:01.61. While WVU exhibitioned its remaining six swimmers in the event, the Mountaineers still posted the top six times in the event.
Koval posted his second win of the meet in the 500 freestyle. The sophomore won with a 4:46.95.
Williams capped his WVU home career with a win in the 100 butterfly. The senior touched the wall in 50.51 to win by 0.29 seconds.
Carr rounded out the meet for WVU individually with a win in the 400 individual medley. While freshman Drew Damich (4:11.13) and Preaskorn (4:23.32) exhibitioned, they placed second and third, respectively.
The meet concluded with a win for WVU in the men’s 200 freestyle relay. Marsh, Glegg, Csonka and Elmerini finished in 1:23.59 to help the Mountaineers win every event against the Villanova men.
On springboard, the WVU men rolled to a 1-2-3-4-5 finish on 1-meter. Obendorf won the event with a 304.35, followed by Proietto in second (298.90), sophomore Logan McHenry in third (290.75), freshman Emmott Blitch in fourth (263.10) and freshman Austin Smith in fifth (250.65).
Schmidt concluded her home career with a victory on the women’s 3-meter with a mark of 306.35. Freshman Julia Calcut placed third, thanks to a 267.00. Schmidt also led WVU on 1-meter, finishing second with a 277.55.
For the men on 3-meter, WVU’s five divers were the only competitors. Proietto won with a 296.40, while Obendorf came in second with a 291.35.
“The guys made a lot of the corrections we’ve been working on through the week,” WVU diving coach Michael Grapner said. “On the women’s side, they had their work cut out for them. With a conference team, with a competitive team. They did a nice job, but both the men and women need to continue to work on recovering and capitalizing on the second event. All in all, I’m thrilled, I think we’re on the right track and the Big 12 Championships will be right where we want them.”
Three Mountaineers earned runner-up finishes for the WVU women’s team. Miller earned a runner-up finish in the 100 backstroke thanks to a 56.71. She earned the top two finish by 1.06 seconds. Gillmore also finished second for the Mountaineers in her final home race thanks to a 24.16 in the 50 freestyle. Harris also placed second for the Mountaineers, in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:22.85.
West Virginia returns to action tomorrow at Ohio State. The Mountaineers face OSU, Michigan and Buffalo at 1 p.m. ET in Columbus, Ohio.
Iowa State
The Iowa State swimming and diving team (6-4, 2-0 Big 12) topped West Virginia (1-5, 0-2 Big 12), 158-141, in a thrilling finish and fell short to Villanova (7-1, 2-0 Big East), 173-124, in a co-ed double dual Friday night at WVU Natatorium.
The win over the Mountaineers improved the Cyclones to 3-0 in the all-time series, while the matchup with the Wildcats was the first between the teams. The last two meetings between Iowa State and West Virginia have been decided by a total of 31 points.
Races were tight coming out of the gate, as the Cyclones took the second and fourth spots in the 400 medley relay to open the night. The Iowa State ‘A’ squad of Marissa Engel, Kasey Roberts, Kaylee Kucera and Mary Kate Luddy took second in a time of 3:53.92, just 1.07 seconds ahead of the Iowa State ‘B’ grouping in fourth.
Silqi Luo took third place in the 200 freestyle for the Cyclones, touching in 1:52.65. That was followed by three Iowa State swimmers – Engel, Harper Emswiler and Guy Shilon – all placing in the top half of a 12-swimmer field in the 100 backstroke. Emswiler led the Cyclone effort with a time of 57.88 seconds.
Danica Delaquis continued her recent surge in rivaling Roberts as the fastest breaststroke swimmer for the Cyclones as the pair finished in the top two spots of the 100 breaststroke for the second-straight meet. Roberts took the crown with a time of 1:04.76 and Delaquis finished in 1:07.14.
The 50 freestyle was another tight race between the three squads, with the top-eight finishers separated by just .95 seconds. Team captain Savanna Townsend led the Iowa State effort, touching in 24.42 seconds.
Entering the diving break, the Cyclones trailed the Mountaineers, 78-71, and the Wildcats, 89-59.
As they have all season, Elyse Brouillette and Julie Dickinson led the Cyclones in the diving well, both finishing in the top-5 of both events. Becky Stochl also took seventh-place on both boards.
Brouillette took home yet another victory on the one-meter board, tallying 280.00 points to edge out West Virginia’s Lindsay Schmidt by 2.45 points. Dickinson took third with 261.75 points, while Stochl earned a mark of 219.35.
On the three-meter board it was Dickinson’s turn to lead the Cyclones, as she finished with a score of 285.35 to take second place. Brouillette claimed fifth with 260.70 points, followed by Stochl two slots lower with 224.00 points.
The divers’ success proved to be the initial splash that helped the Cyclones build a tidal wave of momentum down the back half of the meet.
Roberts and Delaquis again stood out in the breaststroke field, this in the 200 yard race. Roberts took first place with a time of 2:20.54, while Delaquis took third in 2:25.45. Roberts later turned the night into a 3-for-3 sweep, winning the 200 IM by touching the wall in 2:05.41 to set up the deciding final event: the 200 freestyle relay.
Iowa State’s ‘A’ squad – comprised of Alex Flatness, Townsend, Maddie Rastall and Laura Miksch – swam to a second-place finish in 1:37.17 to put the Cyclones over the 150-point mark and clinch the meet against West Virginia. The Iowa State ‘B’ group finished close behind with a time of 1:37.68.
Iowa State returns to Beyer Pool for one last meet in the 2015-16 regular season, hosting Kansas Feb. 5-6 for the Cyclones’ Senior Day. Competition on Feb. 5 is set for a 6 p.m. start, followed by a 10 a.m. start on Feb. 6.
