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Indian River Cruising After Day 1 of NJCAA Championships

The first points of the 2017 NJCAA National Swimming and Diving Championships are on the board following the completion of the women's and men's 50 breaststroke. Indian River swimmers dominated the event's top spots, securing a strong showing in the night's first event.

On the women's side, Cortney Perrett picked up the first individual national title of the year with her time of 29.28.  She was followed closely by teammate, Lauren Meyrick, who took second and sixth place went to Taylor Miller.  The men swept the top podium spots with their 1-2-3 finish to begin the meet.  Andrew Wojcik, sophomore, local sensation from Sebastian, was crowned the National Champion.  Finishing second was Joel Falk Hansson and the third spot went to Jonas Olczyk.

The top eight swimmers in the competition's first distance event took to the pool next in the 1000 freestyle.  IRSC freshman, Ianthe Van Der Westhuizen, looked solid throughout the race taking the gold in a time of 10:22.78.  The only other swimmer entered from 'The River', Madyson Lyons, completed the 1-2 sweep with her second place finish.  The men's 1000 free saw similar results when Luka Tomic (9:21.92), and Jacob Andrasco (10:05.77) swept the top two spots in the men's race. 

The women's 200 Individual Medley took to the pool with Natalie Grothe and Morgan Holt separated by only .16 after the morning's qualifying heats.  The event was hotly contested with Holt getting out to an early lead after the butterfly leg.  Grothe closed the gap and regained control at the 100 yard mark.  The third 50 proved pivotal as Grothe opened up a commanding lead and closed the event with a winning time of 2:05.95.  Malin Wallen, freshman from South Africa, stayed strong throughout the race securing second place, while Holt completed another sweep of the top spots with her third place finish.  Going into the men's race, IRSC found themselves in unfamiliar territory after the morning heats.  The top seed was Hylton Collinson from Iowa Lakes.  After a good afternoon of rest, Gabriele Sasia, Harrison Howerton and Cameron Newton showed up ready to race.  The first 50 was a virtual dead heat with the top three even at the turn.  Howerton, a backstroke specialist, took the lead at the 100.  Again, like the women's race, the third leg, the breaststroke portion, proved to be the deciding factor.  Collinson from Iowa Lakes opened up a commanding lead.  In the final 50, a charging Newton gave his all but came up just short finishing second.  Howerton and Sasia rounded out the top four spots with their third and fourth place finishes respectively.

Next on the night's agenda was the 50 Free, an event Indian River has historically shown great strength in, scoring important points in the team competition.  This year would be no different when the team placed three women and five men in the top eight spots of each gender.  Osianna McReed continued her dominance in the event with her win and time of 23.13.  Teammates Courtney Stewart and Sarah Dostie secured podium positions two and six to build on the team's overall lead.  The men's sprint event was tight from the start with places one through five separated by only .57 seconds.  Gavin Erdmann got the win and individual title, while John Fauteux, Nick Loomis, Guillaume Bolivard and Paul Tobin rounded out the top five spots scoring 82 points in the team race.

Following the 50 Free, the swimmers took a break while men's diving took center stage with the 3-M finals.  The duo of Robbie Costine and Gavrilo Blijden secured the first and second  spots.  Along the way, Costine, a future member of the Alabama Crimson Tide team, set the National Record for the men's 3-M board with his score of 623.65.  The record was previously held by Michael Wright, a USA Diving National Champion, NJCAA Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame member and IRSC Sports Hall of Fame member.  The performance puts Costine in very prestigious company.

The evening ended with the 200 Medley relay events.  Courtney Stewart led off the relay for the IRSC women.  The breaststroke was handled by Courtney Perrett, Osianna McReed swam the fly leg and Malin Wallen anchored the winning relay.  The team's 1:43.49 was nearly 10 seconds faster than the second place team from Iowa Central.  Ending the night, the team of Jason Van Der Touw, Andrew Wojcik, Nick Loomis and Gavin Erdmann secured the title with a time of 1:28.62.

Women's Team Scores (top three):
Indian River - 230
Southwestern Oregon - 128
Iowa Central - 123.5

Men's Team Scores (top three):
Indian River - 303
South Georgia - 102
Southwestern Oregon - 101

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