Akron Invite: Day One

AKRON, Ohio, December 5. THE finals of the opening day at the 2009 Zippy Invitational did not disappoint those in attendance as competition soared to unprecedented heights as seven event and five pool records were broken in the evening stanza. The Ohio Bobcats finished the day with 427 points to claim a narrow 12-point advantage over the Zips who finished the day with 415 points. The Redbirds of Illinois State round out the top three with 396.5 points.

In the men's segment, Clarion University leads the 10 competing teams with 453 points while the University at Buffalo trails in second with 425 points. Xavier University rounds out the top-three with a team score of 416 points. Worth noting, Clarion and Xavier both broke a pair of records in tonight's finals. The Xavier Musketeers claimed meet and pool records in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley races while the Golden Eagles of Clarion managed a similar feat in the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle relay races.

The record-setting action began immediately with the 200-yard freestyle relay which saw Akron's "A" relay take third place as senior Stephanie Zielinski, freshman Katie Miles, sophomores Jessica Ickes and Meg Finnerty collaborated on the 1:35.81 timestamp. Ohio's "A" team collected the win and the event record with a time of 1:34.74, besting the 2008 Ohio relay squad's mark of 1:35.21. Akron's "B" relay finished fourth in a time of 1:39.85 as senior Julia Gregos, freshman Molly Raspopovich, junior Brigid Wolf and senior Kendall Karchner were active on the swim.

The records continued to fall in the women's 500-yard freestyle relay as Illinois State's Lauren Terzis finished first in heat "A" with a time of 5:56.81, breaking the record set by Akron's very own Danielle Beland set in 2004 (4:57.88). Senior Cathryn Collins would earn the Zips highest finish in the event, taking second place with a 4:59.79 timestamp. Gregos rounded out the heat in sixth place with a time of 5:05.67. Freshman Rebecca Zimmer took third place in the consolation heat, finishing in a time of 5:11.64 while senior Madelyn Robinson finished seventh with a 5:15.71 timestamp.

In the 200-yard individual medley, freshman Kelsea Cross represented the Zips in the "A" heat and finished eighth in a time of 2:09.89 while Karchner registered a fifth place finish in heat "B" with a time of 2:11.01. UA junior Julie Reynolds battled illness and proved herself resilient, managing a third place finish in the consolation heat with a time of 2:12.16.

Zielinski and Caroline Simmons of Buffalo reignited the record buzz in Ocasek Natatorium when they both tied for first place in the 50-yard freestyle with a shared time of 23.46. Both swimmers narrowly missed breaking the event record by an incredibly small gap of seventeen hundredths of a second (.17) which only added to the mounting excitement building in the O-Nat. Miles represented the Zips in the "B" heat of the 50-free and registered a third place finish in a time of 24.05. Finnerty (24.95) and Ickes (25.02), both swam in the consolation heat and finished with respective sixth and seventh place marks.

The 1-meter diving stanza saw another record fall when Buffalo senior Meili Carpenter dove into first place with 311.45 points, claiming both the event and pool records at Akron. The Zips placed two divers among the top-10 in the field of 24 with junior Jayne Malloy taking fifth place with a score of 246.80 and sophomore Leeanna Hoover finishing ninth with 206.65 points.

Day one came to a close with the 400-yard medley relay which saw Akron's "A" and "B" teams finish third and sixth in the heat "A". Karchner, Reynolds, Miles and Zielinski represented the "A" team and finished third in a time of 3:53.49 while Cross, freshman Rachel Szymkowiak, Collins and Gregos swam on the "B" team, finishing in a time of 3:58.71.

Day two of the Zippy Invitational resumes tomorrow morning with preliminary events slated to start at 9:00 a.m.

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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