Yale Press Release
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The Yale women's swimming and diving team completed the first of two days of competition against Penn State and Rutgers. Day one was highlighted by two relay victories and four individual victories against a very competitive field. Currently, Yale sits in the lead, 132-54 against Rutgers and 123-62 against Penn State.
The evening competition started with the 400-yard medley relay, where the Yale "A" squad (Heidi VanderWel, Charlotte O'Leary, Maddy Zimmerman, Kina Zhou) took first with a final time of 3:34.09. The "B" and "C" squads took third and fourth, respectively, behind a second-place Rutgers "A" squad. Penn State, normally quite competitive in the relay events, was disqualified.
The Bulldogs followed up their relay success in the first individual event, the 200-yard freestyle. Freshman Lili Margitai took second place, about one second behind Penn State competitor, touching with a final time of 1:50.57. Teammate Isabella Hindley was just one one-hundredth behind Margitai in third place with a final time of 1:50.58. Olivia Jameson was fifth with a final time of 1:51.04.
VanderWel, who competed on the "A" medley relay squad, won the 100-yard backstroke with a final time of 55.23, over a second ahead of her nearest Penn State competitor. Teammates Destiny Nelson and Michelle Chintanaphol grabbed third and fourth places in 56.96 and 58.18, respectively, to solidify the Bulldogs' early lead.
The next individual win came from freshman O'Leary in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her final time of 1:02.84 represented a solid one-second lead over her Rutgers competitor. Paulina Kaminski, Ashley Pales and Alexa Kalandiak took fourth, fifth and seventh places.
The 200-yard butterfly featured a tough field of competition, but the Bulldogs took third through sixth places. Isla Hutchinson-Maddox led the pack with a third place finish in 2:02.86. She was followed by Sydney Hirschi in 2:03.08, Beatrix Thompson in 2:03.17 and Sophie Fontaine in 2:04.51.
The third individual win of the evening came from Hindley in the 50-yard freestyle. Her final time of 23.17 was narrowly ahead of a Penn State competitor and just three one-hundredths ahead of teammate Zhou, who finished in third place with a final time 23.20.
Nelson took the fourth individual win in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:03.78. Sophie Pilkinton and Chintanaphol took third and fourth in 2:05.02 and 2:06.15, respectively. Danielle Liu was sixth in 2:07.07.
The 1000-yard freestyle featured a few strong Penn State athletes leading the pack, but Bulldog Cailley Silbert brought in a third place finish with a final time of 9:57.40. Teammates Kendall Brent and Thompson took fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the final swimming event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Yale "A" squad out-touched Penn State to win the event in 1:33.17. The "B" squad took fifth and the "C" squad took seventh.
Senior Lilybet MacRae was the top Bulldog finisher in the 3-meter diving event, taking third place with a score of 292.00 points. Talbott Paulsen and McKenna Tennant pulled in extra points with fifth and sixth place finishes with 277.45 points and 270.00 points, respectively.
"[That was a] solid start for our team after day one," said Robert J.H. Kiphuth Head Coach of Women's Swimming, Jim Henry. "We are doing a good job of carrying over the details in practice to our racing and we are competing against two great teams. They will be ready to go again on day two."
The Yale men's swimming and diving team ended day one of their dual meet against Penn State at a dead-even tie, 93-93. The team traveled to Penn State McCoy Natatorium this weekend and are looking to maintain their undefeated dual meet season.
Kicking off the meet, Yale's 400-yard medley relays took second and third in a close race. Notably, three freshmen –Henry Gaissert, Ryan Huizing and Duncan Lee – posted strong performances to help the team claim the crucial points.
Yale also had good performances in the 200-yard freestyle: Junior Jonathan Rutter took runner-up at 1:39.34 with sophomore Scott Bole close behind in third.
Building the momentum, junior Shawn Nee captured first in the 100-yard backstroke. Behind at the half-way point, Nee rallied in the back half of the race to defeat his opponent with a time of 50.11. Lee also finished third with sophomore Edward Stolarski following in fourth.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, junior Derek Kao started the race in the fourth position, but made a push to finish runner-up with at time of 56.75. Team captain Alex Goss also took fourth in the race. Junior Aaron Greenberg also managed to take runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle while Gaissert took fourth.
Junior Kei Hyogo had another big day against Penn State. Hyogo, typically a long-distance freestyler, added the 200-yard butterfly to his repertoire for the meet. No less disappointing, Hyogo took first in the event with a time of 1:50.09, just about two tenths of a second ahead of senior Alex Schultz, who finished runner-up. Sophomore Joey Carbone also took fourth in the event.
Continuing his strong performances, Hyogo went on to finish first in the 200-yard individual medley in a close finish. His time, 1:49.71, was also about two tenths of a second ahead of his Penn State opponent. Rounding out the event, Rutter and Lee took third and fourth respectively.
Hyogo completed the day with a dominating performance in the 1650-yard freestyle, taking first by nearly 40 seconds with a time of 15:16.12. Senior Ben Lerude staved off the Penn State swimmers to finish runner-up while freshman Christopher Miller rounded out the event in fifth. Hyogo has yet to lose an individual event this season.
Closing out the first day of competition, Yale took second and third in the 200-yard freestyle relay, leaving the meet at a stalemate.
The Bulldogs will look to bounce back and protect their win-streak against Penn State in the second day of competition tomorrow, starting at 11:00 a.m.
Penn State Press Release
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Close battles and a pool record highlighted the opening night of competition for Penn State swimming & diving against Yale and the Rutgers women Friday in McCoy Natatorium. The Nittany Lion men are tied with Yale, 93-93, while the Lion women lead Rutgers 102-83 but trail Yale, 123-62.
Penn State senior Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) became the first to swim the 50 freestyle in a sub-20 second time, winning the event in 19.72 seconds. The returning Olympian was also a key contributor to a pair of winning relay efforts, joining Liam Veregin (Ottawa, Ontario), Kaelan Freund (Lethbridge, Alberta) and Tomer Zamir (Gesher Haziv, Israel) on the opening 400 medley relay (3:18.38), and Zamir, Bob Bantley (Maple Glen, Pa.) and Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) in the closing 200 freestyle relay (1:21.73).
The Nittany Lions were most dominant on the men’s boards, as Connor Scanlon (Laurel, Md.) led a 1-2-3 sweep in the men’s 1-meter dive. Scanlon’s 305.50 was good enough for first, and he was followed in order by Jack Crow (Bethesda, Md.) at 299.50 and Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) at 282.95.
On the women’s side, Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) teamed up for the team’s top performance of the day, finishing 1-2 in the 1000 freestyle. Both swam nearly identical personal bests of 9:53.82 and 9:53.85, respectively.
Other women’s event winners included Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.), who won the 200 butterfly in an NCAA B-cut of 1:58.95, and Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa.), who won the 200 free in 1:49.24. Additionally, Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) earned a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100 backstroke (55.23) and 200 IM (2:04.91)
Joining Ryan on the men’s side as event winners were Stasiunas and Freund. Stasiunas won the 200 free in 1:38.98, while Freund posted an NCAA B-cut time of 55.42 in the 100 breaststroke. Freund also took silver in the 200 IM in 1:49.89.
The evening had a special start, as Penn State honored Faculty Representative Dr. Linda Caldwell, Director of Sports Nutrition Dr. Kris Clark and Sports Psychology Services Dr. David Yukelson. All three are retiring at the end of the academic year.
Rutgers Press Release
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Jan. 13, 2017) – Rutgers swimming and diving finished session one of its tri-meet with Penn State and Yale Friday night in University Park, Pennsylvania. Junior Addison Walkowiak and senior Alyssa Black went 1-2 in the 3-meter dive, and senior Rachel Stoddard and sophomore Francesca Stoppa each recorded second-place times in their respective events to highlight action for the Scarlet Knights.
After the first night, RU trails the Nittany Lions, 102-83, and Bulldogs, 132-54, in dual action.
Off the boards, Walkowiak secured a score of 336.65 to capture the 3-meter title. Black came in second with a mark of 321.50, while sophomore Rachel Byrne placed fourth at 287.50. All three scores were NCAA Zone qualifying standards.
Stoddard finished second in the 100 breaststroke, as the Hillsborough, New Jersey, native hit the wall with a time of 1:03.90. Stoppa concluded second in the 200 butterfly with her mark of 1:59.41.
In the 50 free, rookie Vanessa Ruiz clocked in at 23.63, good for fourth. Ruiz just missed surpassing her PR of 23.48 set on Nov. 18 at the Frank Elm Invitational.
In relay action, Stoddard, Stoppa, sophomore Vera Koprivova and freshman Clare Lawlor finished second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:49.08. Rutgers closed out the night with a fourth-place result from Lawlor, Ruiz, senior Meghan Kiely and freshman Meghan Moses in the 200 freestyle relay.
Session two of the tri-meet begins Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET.
