Indian River Dominates for NJCAA Titles; Women Complete Title Sweep at Meet

By Jason Marsteller

BUFFALO, New York, March 11. YESTERDAY, Indian River Community College claimed both the men's and women's titles at the NJCAA Championships held in Buffalo, N.Y. from March 7-10. The triumphs came in remarkable fashion as the men won all but one event title, and the women pulled out the brooms to complete a sweep.

In the women's meet, IRCC won with 975.5 points, while Monroe Community took second with 497.5 points. Lincoln (454), Vincennes (331) and Genesee (217) completed the top five.

For the men, Indian River doubled up second-place finisher Lincoln, 1122-519, while Monroe Community took third with 356 points. Vincennes (311) and Dupage (239) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Women's 1650 freestyle
IRCC picked up the top two in the distance event as Natalia Buso won in 17:26.43 and Amber Pheil placed second in 18:10.60. Monroe Community's Cailtin McNamar took third in 19:02.53.

Men's 1650 freestyle
IRCC swept the top three as Fernando Costa (15:17.29), Blake Wright (16:15.58) and Kevin Shofe (16:36.81) went 1-2-3 for Indian River.

Women's 200 backstroke
Indian River went 1-2 as Alexis Omans won in 2:10.17 and Wendy Garza took second in 2:13.71. Lincoln's Rachel Slattery finished third in 2:16.14.

Men's 200 backstroke
IRCC marched to a 1-2 again as Nick Schwartz (1:50.77) and Seth Clayton (1:54.04) topped the heat with Darton's Nathan Cornett touching third in 1:57.36.

Women's 100 freestyle
IRCC dominated with six of the top seven finishers. Amanda Neubig (51.05), Shanda Casella (52.28), Kalia Martin (54.10), Cortney Place (54.64), Erin Linley (54.80) and Vanessa Cox (55.28) finished 1-2-3-4-5-7.

Men's 100 freestyle
In similar fashion, the IRCC men went 1-2-3-4-5 on the strength of the efforts from Gideon Louw (43.78), Scott Baker (44.41), Roberto Gomez (44.78), Raul Martinez (45.89) and LeRoux Pelser (46.13).

Women's 200 breaststroke
IRCC's Kim Martella won in 2:22.44, while teammate Ana Rubin placed third in 2:29.00. Vincennes' Courtney Hendrix split the difference in 2:26.48 for second.

Men's 200 breaststroke
Monroe Community's Kazuma Uda did what no other non-IRCC swimmer could do all meet – win a national title. The 2:08.88 performance ruined a complete IRCC sweep on the men's side of the meet, while Daniel Munoz (2:09.31) and Patrick Blom (2:10.26) finished second and third, respectively for Indian River.

Women's 200 butterfly
Natalia Buso won for IRCC in 2:10.68, while Lincoln's Mekenzie Lewis finished second in 2:11.41 and Monroe Community's Caitlin Gruschow took third in 2:27.03.

Men's 200 butterfly
IRCC's Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw touched first in 1:51.79, while Lincoln's Dale Cuffe (1:54.54) and Dillon York (1:57.37) placed second and third, respectively.

Women's 400 freestyle relay
IRCC's team of Shanda Casella, Amanda Neubig, Kalia Martin and Cortney Place completed the clean sweep of national titles for Indian River on the women's side with a time of 3:30.86.

Men's 400 freestyle relay
Indian River's foursome of Gideon Louw, Scott Baker, Roberto Gomez and Raul Martinez finished out the meet for IRCC with a winning time of 2:58.18.

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