Hilltopper Invitational: Day One

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky, November 19. THE Western Kentucky University swimming and diving teams broke pool records in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 400 medley relay and 50 freestyle on their way to a lead on Friday's first day of the Hilltopper Invitational at Bill Powell Natatorium. Sophomore diver Caitlin Dean also qualified for NCAA Zone Diving.

"We had a good day," WKU coach Bruce Marchionda said. "I thought our freshman learned a lot today. Like we said, we want to use this as a rehearsal for the conference meet and we will see how they do in the next couple days.

"We try to establish a lead on the first day and then build upon that each day so that we can continue to use that as motivation. We are in the lead, let's keep it. People try to chase you and we just need to use that as a motivational tool to keep it up all three days."

The Lady Topper 200 freestyle relay team of Claire Alexandre, Claire Donahue, Meredith Dement and Kristiana Feeser place first with a pool-record time of 1 minute and 34. 81 seconds. The Hilltoppers also started the meet off strong when the quarter of Billy Kunkel, William Varley, David Menchinger and Nick Slattery touched in at 1:22.69 to set a new pool record and take top position.

WKU continued its strong relay performance with a sweep of the 400 medley relay, both in pool record times. Lady Toppers Hilary Mishler, Brittany Doss, Claire Donahue and Alexandre finished first in a time of 3:45.18, while Hilltoppers Chris Housden, Luke Musser, Nick Slattery and Kunkel also placed first with a time of 3:20.48.

"We do focus on (relays)," Marchionda said. "Our swimmers tend to get very excited about swimming for each other and I think that is one of the things that make them just a little bit faster in those relays."

The Lady Toppers kicked off Friday's evening session by taking three of the top eight spots in the 500 freestyle event led by sophomore Alex Van Oost in first place with a time of 5:01.14. Freshman Samantha Holmes finished fifth with a time of 5:07.99 followed by junior Georgia Smith with a time of 5:08.09. Senior Krista Mantay swam a time of 5:16.58 to place 11th.

In the men's 500 freestyle, WKU advanced four into the "A" final with senior David Menchinger taking first place with a time of 4:33.69. Classmate Sean Shannon placed second in 4:39.68. Elliot Lorson (4:44.62) and David Rayner (4:47.60) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Adam Pendry (4:50.40) and Adam Mayer (4:57.96) placed eighth and 12th.

Alexandre finished first in the 200 individual medley even, touching in at 2:04.48. Sophomore Hilary Mishler (2:08.64), Courtney Marx (2:09.06) and Katie McLean (2:11.26) claimed spots four through six in the "A" final. Six other Lady Toppers scored in the 200 IM event.

Sam Dalton picked up his first event win of the season with a time of 1:53.49 in the 200 IM. Freshman Lucas Zelehowsky finished fourth with a time of 1:58.87. Louis Bunch placed seventh in 1:56.62. Junior Chris Donahue finished 13th (2:01.01).

The individual swimming events wrapped up with the 50 freestyle. Claire Donahue captured first-place with a time of 23.52. Dement placed third, touching in at 24.63. Chelsea Stephens (24.70), Holmes (26.06) and Laurel Chaney (25.08) each finished in the top 13.

On the men's side, Kunkel picked up his third win in the 50 free event as he stopped the clock at 20.78. Senior Nick Slattery placed second with a time of 21.31 followed by sophomore William Varley in third at 21.40. Jordan Vorst (21.53), Kevin Knezevich (21.75) and Chad Cown (21.94) finished seventh, ninth and tenth, respectively in the "B" final. Luke Musser and Neal Rushing also placed in the top 18.

In diving, sophomore Caitlin Dean placed first on the 1-meter and qualified for NCAA Zone Diving with a mark of 268.65. Kylie Ruiz placed third with a score of 234.05 followed by Chelsea Jordan in fifth with a score of 219.8. Freshman Elyse Madigan scored a 126.8 in her first event.

The men competed on the 3-meter and WKU swept the top three spots. Junior Vinny Rominger finished first with a score of 312.8 with classmate Jim Ritter in second at 302.25. Both marks represented lifetime bests. Sophomore Jonathan Field rounded out the top three with a mark of 299.95.

Other action from the morning session in the 500 freestyle included Casey DeRidder in 5:15.93, Arrika Bales in 5:25.25 and Laura Lewis in 5:28.64. Senior Brittany Doss touched in at 2:14.69 in the preliminaries of the 200 IM, while sophomore Ben Nichols placed 21st.

In the preliminaries of the 50 freestyle event, Chris Housden stopped the clock in 22.44, Michael Walsh finished in 22.72 and Ethan Arave turned in a time of 23.22.

The Lady Toppers finished atop the team standings at the end of the first day with 340 points. Vanderbilt was second with 242 points. WKU also led the men's competition with a total of 356 points. University of the Cumberlands is in second with 186 points.

Saturday beings with preliminaries in the 400 IM at 10:30 followed by the 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke. The women's 3-meter diving preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. The 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay will be featured in the evening session.

"Tomorrow we have a lot of people who are doubling up, two events, to see if they can actually handle that," Marchionda said. "We are looking to see if we double up come conference time. The big things is how are they going to handle that, how are they going to come off two sessions, we are only a third of the way done. Mentally, can they get up tomorrow morning, and that is going to be the challenge."

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.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x