USA Swimming Sectionals, Buffalo: Austin Staab Completes Dominant Meet With Two More Records

BUFFALO, New York, March 14. WESTERVILLE's Austin Staab put together two more strong swims at the USA Swimming Sectionals held in Buffalo as he finished rewriting the records books with two more outstanding efforts. The meet took place in short course yard format.

Staab solidified what turned out to be quite the meet for the Stanford Cardinal currently on leave from his college team. He demolished both the pool and meet records in the men's 100 free with a 42.95. That time eclipsed the 43.91 set by Camilo Beccera in 2003 as the pool record, and absolutely destroyed the 44.51 meet mark posted by Scott Goldblatt in 2003.

Staab doubled up with another pool and meet record in the men's 200 IM. Staab checked in with a 1:44.70 that smashed both previous marks. Marcin Malinski owned the old facility standard with a 1:47.68 set back in 1998. Meanwhile, Ron Karnaugh set the previous meet standard with a 1:48.13 set in 2001. Peddie's Nimrod Hayet (1:50.25) and Connor Signorin (1:50.69) finished second and third.

SoNoCo's Alicia Mathieu claimed the women's 1000 free title in 9:50.41, while Cougar's Rebecca Fleming placed second in 10:01.34. Albany Starfish's Aimee Hooper completed the top three in 10:04.86. Berkeley's Paul Nolle won the men's 1650 free in 15:38.87, while Magnus' Jun Oh finished second in 15:49.52. Peddie's Ryan Signorin wound up third in 15:50.19.

Magnus' Erica Belcher topped the women's 200 back in 1:59.20, lowering the pool record of 2:00.13 set by Erica Meissner back in 2003. Cougar's Danielle Romain touched second in 2:01.19, while Eastern Express' Victoria Cassidy grabbed third in 2:03.17. Hamden's Connor Maher touched first in the men's 200 back with a 1:48.11, just beating Peddie's Connor Signorin (1:48.59) to the wall. Southwest Y's Michael Uggeri took third in 1:52.91.

Magnus' Rachel Moore captured the women's 100 free title in 51.15, while Central Connecticut's Faith Martin placed second in 51.97. Romain snatched her second podium with a third-place 52.32. Penn State's Kelly Nelson topped qualifying in 51.94. Martin then touched out Belcher, 2:04.06 to 2:04.11, to win the women's 200 IM. Tonawanda's Marissa Dressel earned third in 2:05.99.

In relays, Peddie's Mary Mucciarone, Laura Loughran, Jillian Liwacz and Kendese Nangle took the women's 200 free relay in 1:36.75. Teammates Nimrod Hayet, Maxwell Wilde, Brendan Walsh and Connor Signorin won the men's 200 free relay in 1:24.86, just missing the meet record of 1:24.47 set by Long Island Aquatic Club in 2005. Magnus' Belcher, Bethany Douglas, Moore and Maggie D'Innocenzo set a meet record in the women's 400 medley relay with a 3:49.86. That time clipped the 3:49.98 set by Badger back in 2003. Peddie's Walsh, Peter Fittin, Hayet and Connor Signorin won the men's 400 medley relay in 3:23.30. That performance beat the former meet mark of 3:24.53 set by Bluefish in 2007.

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