Miami Invite: Day Two

OXFORD, Ohio, December 5. A bevy of talented Miami freshman swimmers and divers helped the RedHawks take over first place in a big way Friday night at the 16th Annual Miami Invitational.

The Red and White have 1,218 points through day two, 470 points ahead of second-place Florida Gulf Coast (748). Emory is in third place (741), followed by Illinois (578), Denison (531), Oakland (509), Cincinnati (393), Wright State (366) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (116).

The RedHawks wasted no time in taking the overall lead in the meet with a second- and sixth-place finish in the opening race, the 200-yard medley relay. A freshman-laden unit, anchored by senior Allison Way, swam the distance in a season-best time of 1:33.85, just two one-hundredths of a second behind Emory's winners. Three freshmen–Bekka Westrick, Maegan O'Connor and Katie Arlinghaus–accompanied Way.

The RedHawks extended their points lead in the 200-yard butterfly by taking five of the top eight spots, led by freshman Leah Thornton's second-place finish with a time of 2:01.90. It was Thornton's second freshman record of the day. O'Connor placed fourth (2:03.81), Brittney Rohr was fifth (2:03.90), Claire Dickmann was sixth (2:05.78) and Kelsey Mallon finished eighth (2:06.11).

Miami's Molly Tyler swam a career-best time in the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 1:53.55, good for second place in the "C" final. Way was barely touched out in the "A" finals, finishing second in a team-best time of 1:51.49. Westrick placed sixth and sophomore Sarah Radke was seventh.

Kelsey Vehr broke her own meet-record from Friday's prelims in the 100-yard breaststroke, hitting the wall in NCAA Div. 1 B qualifying time of 1:02.26. Brunn moved up a spot to finish second behind Vehr with a season-best time of 1:03.22.

In the 100 backstroke final, Thornton swam a season-best race to take first place. Her 55.20 clocking was a Div. 1 B qualifying time. Miami's Nicole Roddenbery placed sixth and O'Connor was seventh in the 100 back.

The 400-yard individual medley saw Miami's Vehr and Brunn place third and fourth in respective times of 4:24.79 and 4:25.03. Brunn's time was a season best for her.

Westrick topped the 50-yard freestyle entries at 23.41, nipping her closest competitor by two one-hundredths of a second, a season-best time. Way placed fourth and O'Connor finished seventh.

In the women's three-meter diving competition, Miami freshman Corrine Bangs tallied a season-best 317.40 points to claim second place. Fellow freshman Danica Roskos was third.

In the final event for the women, Miami's 400-yard medley relay team knocked nearly five seconds off of their previous time clocking (3:45.71), just 24 one-hundredths of a second better than runner-up Oakland.

The Invitational concludes Saturday with preliminary races at 9 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. There also will be a special diving exhibition at 5:45 p.m. that features a touring group of Chinese Olympic hopefuls, several U.S. elite youth, former RedHawk all-star Chris Heaton, and members of Miami's varsity men's and women's diving teams.

Miami University's diving quartet of Cameron Horner, James Beres, Mike Grainger and Chris Hoppler placed first through fourth in the one-meter event to pull within 4.5 points of fifth place Cincinnati after day two of the 16th annual Miami Invitational.

Horner edged out Beres for first place by a single point, 346.85 to 345.85. The divers accounted for 123 points in that one event.

Oakland University tops the men's standings with 692 points, following by Wright State (625), Denison (569.5), Emory (476) and Cincinnati (433).

The Invitational concludes Saturday with preliminary races at 9 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. There also will be a special diving exhibition at 5:45 p.m. that features a touring group of Chinese Olympic hopefuls, a number of U.S. elite youth, former RedHawk all-star Chris Heaton, and members of Miami's varsity men's and women's diving teams.

Numerous RedHawk swimmers established season bests on Friday night.

Jason Hass knocked a full second off his previous season-best time in the 200-yard butterfly (1:52.76), finishing fifth to lead the RedHawks swimmers.

Anderson Whipp had a season-best time in the 200 freestyle "C" finals, touching the wall at 1:44.40.

Senior Michael Carroll finished sixth in the finals of the 100 breaststroke, clocking in at a season-best time of 58.38.

Darin Smith bettered his season-best time for the second straight race in the 400 individual medley, touching in at 4:09.75.

John Eick's time of 21.39 was good for first place in the "B" final of the 50 freestyle and marked his best time of 2009.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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