Ohio State Invite: Day Two

COLUMBUS, Ohio, December 6. OHIO State dominated the second swim opportunities for a second consecutive day at its Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational and continues to lead the 11-team field with 1,028 points. Five teams are competing with divers only. The Buckeyes will seek to win the championship for a second consecutive year Sunday during the final day of competition. Starting time is 3 p.m.

Coach Bill Wadley's team locked up 24 of 40 positions in the five individual event championship races, plus had another 10 spots in the point-producing consolation races during another strong morning session to put itself in great position for the Saturday evening races.

Among the impressive morning events for Ohio State was the 400 individual medley, with six Buckeyes advancing to the championship final, and the 100 butterfly, which produced five finalists. And from that 400 individual medley field came one of the "great swims of the day," according to Wadley: that of junior Ben Savonen.

"Ben Savonen making the finals of the 400 IM was the special moment of the morning session," Wadley said. "Ben is such a hard working and great young man. I was really happy for him."

There were more special moments Saturday night as the Buckeyes swam to victory in every individual event. Here are the champs:

* Justin Farra, coming off a school record in the 200 individual medley Friday, took first in the 400 individual medley in a time of 3:48.73. Michael Hulme and Phil Seleskie were third and fourth, respectively.
* Freshman Tim Phillips led a 1-2-3-4 Ohio State sweep in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 47.51. Quincy Lee, fastest in prelims, Lincoln Fahrbach and Luke Stirton followed.
* Andrew Olson took first in the 200 freestyle in 1:37.33.
* Sam Pelkey led another top-four Ohio State sweep in the 100 breaststroke with a winning time of 54.49. He just edged Daniel Malnik (54.56) with Elliott Keefer and Farra third and fourth, respectively.
* Andrew Elliott touched first in the 100 backstroke in 48.08.

"Sam Pelkey's win was huge," Wadley said. "This was his first really competitive meet since last year because of his hip injury and it was really nice to see him swim to a win. He let people know he's back.

"And it was great to see Tim Phillips get a win. This shows we are a team of individuals who all want to win races."

Ohio State opened the final session with a win in the 200 medley relay in 1:28.10. Elliott, Malnik, Phillips and Joel Elber were the relay members.

Ryan Jefferson was third on the 3-meter springboard with 362.55 points and was followed by teammate Wes Wieser in fourth with 359.95 points.

The final event of the night – the 800 free relay – was won by Minnesota with the Ohio State team of Phillips, Stephen Sakaris, Stefan Sigrist and Olson second in 6:32.44.

Ohio State, on the strength of a strong preliminary session Saturday morning that qualified 20 swimmers into point-scoring position, remains in second place in the Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational with 545 points after the second day. Nationally ranked Minnesota continues to lead the 11-team field (there are five diving-only schools) with 817 points. West Virginia is third with 350.5 points.

Coach Bill Dorenkott sent 31 swimmers to the starting blocks in the five morning preliminary events and 20 of those swimmers – or 64 percent – advanced through to a second swim of the day in either a final or semifinal Saturday night.

"Our main focus was to swim well in the morning," Dorenkott said. "The morning session today may have been the best swimming session by this team in my two years as coach."

No less than six Buckeyes swam to a personal best time in the morning session. Three Buckeyes came through the session having qualified for a Saturday final or consolation final in two individual events: Samantha Cheverton (200 free final and 100 back consolation), Angela Severn (400 IM final and 100 breaststroke consolation) and Haley Mitchell (200 free final and 100 back final).

Severn, a freshman from Harleysville, Pa. (just west of Philadelphia), was impressed with the team's effort.

"Every time I finished a swim and looked at the clock I was amazed," Severn said. "Everybody was doing so well."

Jackie Brousseau echoed her teammate's comments and those of her coach.

"I felt as if we were strong as a team in every event," Brousseau, from Thousand Oaks, Calif. (near Los Angeles) said. "We took half the [finals] places in the 400 IM and we had three in the 100 backstroke."

The good, good vibrations from the morning session continued into the evening. The first final was the 200 medley relay and the team of Kelsey Moran, Catherine Eitel, Shannon Draves and Megan Detro took second in a school-record time of 1:41.61. A second relay, featuring Elisabeth Tavierne, Colleen Schweitzer, Kimberly Bowman and Lisa Narum, was eighth.

Katelyn Brix led the quartet of point-scorers in the 400 individual medley by taking more than three seconds off her preliminary swim time and finishing third in 4:19.47. Severn was fifth, Jill Lockhart sixth and Emily Creran placed eighth.

Cheverton swam to victory in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:47.73. Anita Beck moved up four places to take fifth and Mitchell was eighth.

Eitel was third in the 100 breaststroke with a personal best time of 1:03.38 with Schweitzer finishing eighth. Shannon Draves was fourth in the 100 butterfly in 55.42.

And in the 100 backstroke, Lauren Massey was fifth with Elisabeth Tavierne and Mitchell placing seventh and eighth, respectively. Kelsey Moran, scoring points in 10th place, had a personal best swim of 56.60 in the event.

The final swimming event of the night, the 800 freestyle relay, had the Ohio State team of Beck, Cheverton, Mitchell and Detro finishing in second place in a time of 7:17.41.

On the 1-meter springboard, Ohio State's Bianca Alvarez was third with 292.50 points and Chelsea Davis was fifth with 285.50 points.

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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