Ohio State Press Release
Day one of Ohio State’s Winter Invite is in the books and a few Buckeye swimmers appeared during the first day of competition.
Freshmen Becca Luft, Emma Fish, and Lauren Kurzydlo all swam at least once on Saturday, and all three improved upon their prelim times in an event they competed in.
Luft was the first Buckeye to make it in the pool, swimming in the 100 butterfly. She posted a time of 55.51, the best time of the season for her, good for second place in the A finals of that event. Fish then swam in the 100 backstroke and touched the wall at 57.75, beating her previous personal best by nearly two full seconds. Both Fish and Kurzydlo competed in the 100 freestyle finals in the evening session, putting up times of 52.26 and 53.64 respectively. Both freshmen put up personal best times in the 100 free, making Ohio State swimmers a perfect 4-for-4 in PR’s today.
Ohio State’s Winter Invite kicked off on Saturday, and the field was littered with several Buckeyes.
OSU won two events on the day. It started things off with a win in the 200 medley relay; Ryan Wagner, Oliver Knabb, Blake Dickmann, and Josh Fleagle combined for a time of 1:29.20 to narrowly edge out a relay foursome from Missouri. Later on, Nathan Christian won the 100 freestyle with a time of 43.90, an NCAA B time.
A few other Buckeye swimmers posted Top 3 times in A finals during the evening session. Austin Mortimer did so in the 500 freestyle, putting up a time of 4:25.66. Sam Stankivicz was one of five Ohio State swimmers to compete in the A finals of the 100 butterfly, and he led all of his teammates with a time of 48.33.
After contributing to the meet-opening win in the 200 medley relay Wagner tied for third in the 100 backstroke, his time of 48.61 matching that of a Missouri swimmer. Freshman Daniel Gloude earned the other NCAA B time for Ohio State today, achieving that feat in the 400 IM with a time of 3:53.48. Oliver Knabb was the fastest Buckeye in the 100 breaststroke (55.59).
