Cincinnati Splits With Xavier in Ohio Battle

CINCINNATI, Ohio, October 19. FRESHMAN Jessica Piper (St. Petersburg, Fla./ St. Petersburg) produced first-place finishes in all four events she competed in to help lead the University of Cincinnati women's swimming and diving team to a 188.5-96.5 win over Xavier University Friday evening at Keating Aquatics Center.

Piper's night got off to a strong start even before the meet began with her rendition of the national anthem. Minutes after showing off her pipes, Piper, in the meet's opening event, calmly led the UC 400-yard medley relay 'B' team to a first-place finish.

Individually, Piper won the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 1:53.72 seconds, the women's 200-yard backstroke (2:03.73) and then completed her perfect collegiate debut with a first-place finish in the 200-yard IM (2:10.68).

In the women's 100-yard breaststroke, the trio of junior Victoria Jacumski (Clarence Center, N.Y./Clarence), sophomore Helena Pikhartova (Prague, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Jana Nerudy) and junior Sammie Wheeler (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) finished first, second and third. Jacumski surpassed Pikhartova in the final 25 yards and won at the wall by a margin of .07 seconds (1:06.46 for Jacumski compared with 1:06.56 for Pikhartova).

Jacumski added another individual win in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:24.35.

Also producing a pair of first-place finishes was junior Weronika Wasiakowska (Przykop, Poland/School of Sports Championship), who won both the 50-yard freestyle (24.45 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (53.11).

Rounding out the individual winners for the UC women were senior Brittany Groene (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin), with a time of 2:15.23 in the 200-yard butterfly, and freshman Iuliia Fedoreeva (Barnaul, Russia/Barnaul), who won the 100-yard butterfly after finishing in 58.54 seconds.

In the men's division, the Bearcats dropped a close meet that came down to the final two events by a score of 158-136.

Freshman Joe Bott (Clive, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) gave the Bearcats their first individual win of the season in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a mark of 9:43.91. Right behind Bott in the 1,000 free was classmate Donovan Kearns (Georgetown, Ky./Scott County), who finished second with a recorded time of 9:49.39.

Kearns later added a victory in the 500-yard freestyle after finishing in 4:46.83, which was .47 seconds ahead of Xavier's Alex Huff.

With a mark of 52.44 seconds, sophomore Aw'se Ma'aya (Amman, Jordan/The Bolles School) placed first in the 100-yard backstroke for the Bearcats' final first-place finish of the evening.

Cincinnati will next compete on Nov.2 against former BIG EAST foe West Virginia at Keating Aquatics Center.

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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