Cleveland State
The Cleveland State men's and women's swimming and diving teams completed day one of the CSU Magnus Cup on Friday night with the men in first place out of six teams and the women in fifth place out of ten.
The teams completed the women's 1M dive, men's 3M dive, 200 Free Relay, 50 Breast, 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free and 400 Medley Relay on Friday.
For the men, it was a record-breaking day. Philipp Sikatzki broke the CSU record in the 200 IM with a 1:48.74 time, only to then have that same record broken in the finals by teammate Tommi Wolst (1:48.53). Sikatzki also broke the Busbey Natatorium Pool record in the 100 Back, leading off the 400 Medley relay with a split of 47.44.
Sikatzki, Wolst, Szymon Golczyk and Robert Tolson also broke the Cleveland State record as a team in the 400 Medley relay, swimming a 3:12.82. The CSU "B" relay team of John LaValle, Jared Stergar, Mauricio Gonzalez and Phillip Brittain finished right behind the "A" team, swimming a 3:25.41.
Sikatzki, Tolson, Adam Ingledew and Declan McLaughlin finished first in the 200 Free relay with a time of 1:21.75.
Individually, Brittain finished second in the 50 Breast (25.48) while Patrick Tippen was not far behind in fourth (26.58). In the 500 Free, Patrick Walsh (4:38.07) and Mac Lewis (4:41.02) finished fourth and fifth respectively while Wolst's school record placed him first in the 200 IM with Gage Alleman second (1:52.01). Sikatzki (20.24), McLaughlin (20.92) and Ingledew (20.92) all had top-five finishes in the 50 Free.
Danny Roberts placed first in the 3M diving with a score of 284.90.
The women also had several notable performances on Friday.
Tobie Zeller (30.73 - 50 Breast) and Anna Evans (24.13 - 50 Free) both had top-ten swim finishes while Tori Taffner (227.65) and Sammie Sposet (220.10) both finished ninth and tenth respectively in the 1M diving.
The women's 400 Medley relay team (Oltman, Zeller, McNamara, Evans - 3:53.57) and 200 Free relay team (Vandewerker, Evans, Bennett, McNamara - 1:36.40) both finished seventh.
The Cup will continue tomorrow (Nov. 21) with 9:00 a.m. prelims, 1:00 p.m. diving finals (women's 3M, men's 1M) and 5:00 p.m. finals for the 200 Medley Relay, 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 800 Free.
George Washington Men
The George Washington men's swimming and diving team completed day one of the the three-day Cleveland State-hosted Magnus Cup Invitational at the Vikings' Busbey Natatorium on Friday.
The Colonials sit in third place through the first day of competition with 275.5 points, as Cleveland State (612.3) is in the lead followed by Xavier (506) in second. GW is ahead of Saginaw (249), Cumberlands (204) and Notre Dame College (84).
"I'm really happy with a strong showing on the first day of the Magnus Cup," said first-year head coach James Winchester. "Across the board we had 100 percent season-best times today, so I'm really happy with that. We also had some strong swims break into the top-10 of our school's record books on the first day here."
Rookie Josh Monacelli led the Colonials, tallying the squad's highest finish with a sixth-place effort in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:55.58. Junior Bogdan Balteanu placed third in the event's B Final - 13th overall - with a time of 1:56.71.
Balteanu qualified for the A final of the 50-yard breaststroke and took seventh (26.73), while Monacelli placed second in the B Final of the same event - 12th overall - with a time of 27.19.
A trio of Colonials qualified for the 500-yard freestyle A Final, as senior Oliver Keegan took seventh (4:41.37), junior Liam Huffman grabbed eighth (4:43.21) and sophomore Connor Hart finished ninth (4:45.40) to wrap GW's A Final swims on Friday.
Freshman Alexander Auster won the 50-yard freestyle B Final, taking 11th overall (21.11), to round out GW's best individual performances on the day while cracking the program's top times in the event, landing 10th on the all-time list.
In relay competition, Balteanu and Auster joined sophomores Gustav Hokfelt and Adam Drury for a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:25.64) before Hokfelt, Balteanu and Auster teamed up with junior Ben Fitch to take fifth in the 400-yard medley relay (3:27.76).
"Today was a very good start, but now we have to transition that into two more tough days of swimming," said Coach Winchester. "I'm very proud of how the team is performing so far and how we're racing. I'm looking forward to more assaults on our record books as the meet continues."
George Washington Women
Freshman Emily Zhang and junior Lauren Law each snapped a program record in the 200-yard individual medley as the GW women's swimming and diving team completed day one of the three-day Cleveland State-hosted Magnus Cup Invitational at the Vikings' Busbey Natatorium.
The Colonials sit in fourth place with 210 points after the first day of competition, as Duquesne (509.5), Akron (470), and Xavier (320) lead the 10-team field. GW is ahead of Cleveland State (184.5), Youngstown State (181), Saginaw (86), Cumberlands (74), Saint Francis (48) and Notre Dame College (1).
"'I'm really happy with a strong showing on the first day of the Magnus Cup," said first-year head coach James Winchester. "Across the board we had 100 percent season-best times today, so I'm really happy with that. The big highlight was Emily Zhang's win in the 200- IM, setting a new school record. It was a fantastic swim by Emily and also Lauren Law in that A final as well, who also made it under the former school record."
Zhang led the Colonials, winning the 200-yard IM with a program record-setting time of 2:02.83 - handily besting the previous record of 2:04.66 set by Paola Leor during the 2009-10 season. Law also broke the school record in the same event, posting a time of 2:04.18 to take fifth.
Sophomore Hannah Kopydlowski - already among GW's top-10 swimmers all-time in the event - touched the wall eighth (24.08) in the 50-yard freestyle, as Law reached the record books, with her time of 24.11 putting her seventh on GW's top times list in her B Final performance.
Senior Hannah Schaefer and sophomore Abigail Fusco rounded out GW's A Final appearances on Friday, taking seventh (5:05.58) and eighth (5:06.36), respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle.
The Colonials nearly broke another program record in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as Law, Zhang and Kopydlowski teamed up with senior Maggie Hofstadtr to finish fifth with a time of 1:35.60, just .15 off the school mark of 1:35.45 from 2014. Fusco then joined Law, Zhang and Kopydlowski for another fifth-place finish, this time in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:51.38.
"Today was a very good start, but now we have to transition that into two more tough days of swimming," said Coach Winchester. "I'm very proud of how the team is performing so far and how we're racing. I'm looking forward to more assaults on our record books as the meet continues."
Saint Francis (Pa.)
The Saint Francis swimming team competed in six events on the first day of the three-day Magnus Cup, hosted by Cleveland State.
Sophomore Katie Lafferty (Bremen, Ind./Bremen) continued a strong Fall with another impressive performance. Lafferty posted her top time this season in the 500-yard Freestyle, finishing in 5:05.51. That is also the top time in the NEC so far this year. She also had a time of 24.21 in the 50-yard Freestyle, her second-best pace of the season in that event. Lafferty placed 15th out of 40 in the 500-yard Freestyle and 18th out of 40 in the 50-yard Freestyle.
Senior Catherine Rogers (Nokesville, Va./Seton School) placed 10th out of 40 in the 50-yard Breaststroke with a time of 30.27. Freshman Jessica Crumm (New Hampton, N.Y./Minisink Valley) had the Red Flash's second-best finish in that event, with a pace of 31.34, while freshman Mary Kish (Glendale, Ariz./Bourgade Catholic) completed the race in 32.55.
Sophomore Emma Karell (Norrtlje, Sweden/Tby Swim Club) swam a season-best time of 2:12.82 in the 200-yard IM.
In the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, Lafferty, Jessie Reilly (Pittsburgh, Pa. /Upper St. Clair), Rogers and Alicia Tiberino (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) combined for a time of 1:37.67 to place 11th out of 26 relay teams. Sara Dieterich (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot), Karell, Kish and Natalie Tedjasukmana (Anaheim, Calif./Mater Dei) teamed up for a pace of 1:41.36 to finish 20th.
Lafferty, Reilly, Rogers and Tiberino also placed 16th in the 400-yard Medley Relay, finishing with a time of 4:01.34. Crumm, Dieterich, Karell and Tedjasukmana was the second Red Flash team to finish, with a pace of 4:06.05.
The Magnus Cup continues on Saturday with the 200 Medley Relay, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke and 800 Freestyle.
