Duke Press Release
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke swimmers kicked off the postseason Friday with the first of three days of competition at the Janis Hape Dowd Carolina College Nike Invitational. Several Blue Devils shined individually and the women’s team earned a first-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay to highlight the first day of action.
Friday’s evening’s events were moved from Chapel Hill to Duke’s Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion following a water emergency that affected much of Orange County. Saturday’s 10 a.m. preliminaries and 6 p.m. finals will continue at Taishoff as previously scheduled, while Sunday’s events have also been moved from Chapel Hill to Durham as a result of the emergency.
In the first event Friday evening, the women’s and men’s 200 freestyle relays each raced to second-place showings. The men’s quartet of freshman Sheldon Boboff, junior Nick Bigot, senior Kevin Fraser and freshman Noah Stevens posted the Blue Devils’ fourth-fastest mark of the season at 1:21.83 while freshman Kira Page, senior Jessie Sutherland, junior Maria Sheridan and freshman Suzanne Dolan stopped the clock at 1:34.95 in the women’s race.
Sophomore Riley Hickman improved upon his career-best time in the men’s 500 freestyle, going 4:29.96 in an 11th-place finish. On the women’s side, sophomore Brittany Kahn dropped nearly four seconds from her morning swim for ninth overall (5:06.89).
The women’s 200 individual medley saw junior Anna Quinn lead the way in fifth overall (2:05.57) and Susan Hynes (2:06.34) and Colleen Wixted (2:06.80) finish one-two in the consolation final. In the same event on the men’s side, Boboff took fifth in the evening finals after going 1:49.11 in preliminaries for the seventh-fastest mark in program history. The morning session also saw junior Alex Peña come in right behind Boboff for the eighth-fastest time on Duke’s performance list at 1:49.12.
The Blue Devils placed two swimmers in both the women’s and men’s 50 freestyle ‘A’ finals, with Peña taking second overall in a 20.22 performance. That clocking ranked him eighth on the program’s all-time performance list. Bigot was sixth (20.73), as was Sutherland for the women at 23.68. Page came in seventh after notching a season-best 23.49 during preliminaries.
Duke swimmers were first to the wall in the final event of the evening, as sophomore Alyssa Arwood, sophomore Susan Hynes, junior Catie Miller and Kahn turned in a time of 3:50.88.
North Carolina Press Release
DURHAM, N.C. - The first day of the 2017 Janis Hape Dowd Carolina College Nike Invitational concluded Friday night at Duke University's Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion with three individual victories from Tar Heel women's swimmers.
Freshman Erica Wirth won the 500-yard freestyle, junior Madison Boswell captured the 200-yard individual medley and sophomore Kate Boyer won the 50-yard freestyle on the opening night of competition.
The meet began Friday morning with a preliminary session at UNC's Maurice J. Koury Natatorium before the University of North Carolina was officially closed at 1 p.m. because of an emerging and continuing water emergency in Orange County, North Carolina.
That moved the evening session to Duke's Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion. Duke had orginally been scheduled to host preliminary and finals sessions on Saturday. Because of the uncertainty of when the water emergency measures in Chapel Hill will be lifted, the Sunday preliminary and finals sessions, originally scheduled for UNC, will now be held at Duke. All other athletic event scheduled for UNC Friday, Saturday and Sunday have moved off campus as well. Please check GoHeels.com for updates.
On Friday, Tar Heel freshman Erica Wirth won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:53.63. She was less than a half second off her career best time in the event of 4:53.18 with her winning time on Friday.
In the men's 500-yard freestyle, UNC senior Josh Beals won the "B" final with a time of 4:26.33, which at the time set a Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion pool record in the event. Beals' record was short-lived, however, as in the next heat, Florida's Grady Heath claimed the "A" final in a time of 4:22.47.
In the women's 200-yard individual medley, Tar Heel junior Madison Boswell claimed first place with a time of 2:02.78. That was a career best time for Boswell, whose previous personal best was 2:03.69.
In the men's 200-yard individual medley, NC State's Andreas Vazaios emerged as the victor in a time of 1:44.43. His preliminary time in the event was 1:43.97, which broke the previous Janis Hape Dowd Carolina College Nike Invitational record in the event which was 1:45.97 set by the University of Tennessee's Tristan Slater in 2014.
Carolina swimmers went 1-2 Friday night in the women's 50-yard freestyle with Kate Boyer taking first place in 23.19 and Katie McKay garnering runner-up honors in 23.26. McKay's time of 23.12 in the preliminaries on Friday was her career best (previous 23.18).
South Carolina Press Release
The University of South Carolina’s men’s and women’s swim team competed in the first of three days at the Janis Hape Dowd Carolina College Nike Invitational Friday, co-hosted by North Carolina and Duke. The relay crews started the weekend on a high note, sweeping the 200 yard freestyle to highlight Friday night’s finals. On top of the two victories, the Gamecocks put up 16 personal bests between the morning and evening sessions and put three individuals in the top five of their respective races.
The night session was moved from the North Carolina natatorium down the road to Duke due to a local water main break, but Carolina was unfazed by the venue change and opened the evening’s schedule with the 200 freestyle relay wins. The women won with the quartet of Caroline Petrone, Katherine McComas, Charlsie Reneski and Mairyn Branaman, touching in 1:33.74. Following them up were the men’s 200 free swimmers. Four freshmen toed the blocks for the Gamecocks, and the team of Itay Goldfaden, Justin Rose, Nicholas Pease and Carter Bennett edged out Duke with a time of 1:21.65.
The team’s first individual podium finish of the night came out of the women’s 200 IM. Katie Shannahan touched third with a time of 2:04.40, almost a full second better than her time in the prelims to set a new personal best. Branaman followed up her anchor leg in the relay win with a third-place spot in the 50 yard free, hitting a personal best of 23.28. The men’s top individual finisher on Friday night was Carter Bennett. He would time a 20.67 final in the 50 free to hit a new season best and take fifth.
Ending the first day was the 400 medley relay. The men touched second with a time of 3:18.08, and the women took fourth in 4:53.93.
Florida State Press Release
Personal and season best times fueled the Florida State swimming and diving teams on the first day of the Janis Hape Dowd Carolina College Nike Invitational on Friday.
The meet started at the Koury Natatorium on the campus of North Carolina, however a water emergency forced finals to be moved to the Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion at Duke.
“We had some best times today,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “We had some fast in-season swims and we’re excited to see what we can do tomorrow.”
The women had eight athletes swim in the ‘A’ finals of three races, starting with the 500 free. Freshman Manuella Ribas Andrade turned in a personal best in the event in prelims, at 4:55.59 for the top seed. In finals, she swam faster, touching with a time of 4:54.87 for second place.
Her teammate, sophomore Daniella Van den Berg followed in third with a mark of 4:55.79, which was her career best time. Sophomore Kendall McIntosh also competed in the top heat, placing eighth at 5:09.48.
In the 200 IM, freshman Macie Bearisto touched sixth with a mark of 2:07.13 after swimming a season best at 2:06.42 in prelims, while newcomer Christi DiPaolo was eighth at 2:11.27 after touching with a mark of 2:06.62 in the morning.
The Seminoles had three ladies competing in the 50 free, as sophomore Fabiana Ingram turned in the fastest time at 23.58 for fifth place. Junior Brenna Ruth won the ‘B’ final, swimming a time of 23.63 and Natalie Chambers finished 11th (23.82). All three were season top times.
The men’s team started the session with a third place showing in the 200 free relay behind the team of freshmen Rudo Loock and Derek Peeples along with sophomore John Vann and rookie Vladimir Stefanik at 1:23.28.
Newcomer Keagan Finley swam in the ‘B’ final of the 500 free, touching in 15th at 4:38.97. In addition, Connor Thorne competed in the ‘C’ heat, finishing 24th at 4:55.69 after posting a time of 4:51.63 in prelims.
Loock reloaded and placed 14th in the 200 IM with a final time of 1:53.70 following his prelim performance of 1:52.41.
Freshman Nate Samson win the ‘C’ final of the 200 IM after dropping a near seven seconds from his morning swim, touching with a time of 1:51.22. Peeples was 19th at 2:00.97.
Stefanik was the lone Seminole swimming in finals of the 50 free, as he placed 11th with a time of 21.03 after posting a 20.83 in prelims.
Saturday’s sessions will be held at Duke and will contain the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back.
North Carolina State Press Release
The NC State swim team concluded day one of the Carolina College Nike Invitational on Friday with 11 top-8 finishes and two NCAA 'B' cuts.
The three-day meet serves as an opportunity for Wolfpack swimmers to race in a competitive environment as the ACC and NCAA Championships approach. No team scores will be kept throughout the weekend.
Freestyle
Senior Alex Hamilton took fourth place in the men's 500 free (4:26.86), Trey Poff finished fifth (4:27.63) and Mason Revis rounded out the NC State distance performers with a 12th place finish (4:39.01). In the morning session, Hamilton posted a time of 4:25.55 and Revis clocked a 4:29.45.
In the women's 50 free, Caroline Estep took fourth overall with a time of 23.54, just off her lifetime best performance of 23.27 in the morning session. Emmie Barnhill finished eighth with a time of 23.77, slightly slower than her 23.48 prelims performance.
Tyler Rice was the top male Wolfpacker in the 50 free, stopping the clock in 20.35 to take second place. In prelims, Rice finished in 20.08 while Jabari Baptiste finished 11th in 20.93. Rice's morning swim earned him an NCAA 'B' cut.
Individual Medley
Freshman Olga Lapteva was the lone Wolfpacker in the women's 200 individual medley. The Vladivostok, Russia, native earned a spot in the 'A' final after clocking a season best time of 2:02.89 in the morning. In finals, Lapteva was just off that time, finishing second in 2:03.76. The freshman's prelim time marks a lifetime best performance.
Five from the men's team competed in the 200 I.M., all of whom made it back in the 'A' final. Andreas Vazaios led the Pack with first place finish in 1:44.43, just off his morning time of 1:43.97. Parker Campbell took second place with a time of 1:48.04. Both Vazaios and Campbell earned NCAA 'B' cuts with those times. Quinlan Stuart and Derek Hren finished close behind in 1:49.26 and 1:50.51, to take third place and sixth place, respectively. Lucca Martins finished the NC State showing with an eight place finish in 1:51.75. Three in addition to Vazaios posted faster times in the preliminary session: Campbell (1:47.26), Hren (1:48.45), Martins (1:49.87).
Saturday's events will be held at the Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion on Duke University's campus. Prelims are set to begin at 10 a.m. while finals will start at 6 p.m.
