Swimmers Gobble up B-cuts as Thanksgiving Approaches

By Emily Sampl

BOULDER, Colorado, November 15. NEXT weekend marks the kickoff of several major mid-season invitationals, and the past three days served as a chance for swimmers to make final tune-ups before resting. Here are a few highlights from the weekend.

Wisconsin and Northwestern took to the pool on Friday night in a matchup of Big Ten powers, with a couple of Badger swimmers posting impressive swims. Maggie Meyer continues to put up solid times in the backstrokes and cement herself as a top contender for an individual NCAA title in March. Meyer achieved an A-cut in the 100, winning the event in 53.01, and then added a B-cut in the 200 with a 1:57.20. Teammate Ashley Wanland threw down a pair of outstanding times in the 100 and 200 breast, winning both events in B-cut times: the 100 in 1:01.47, and the 200 in 2:12.79.

The UCLA Bruins had a busy weekend in the cactus state, taking on Arizona State on Friday and Arizona on Saturday. Brittany Beauchan had a standout meet against the Sun Devils, winning both the 100 (1:02.22) and 200 (2:14.04) breast in NCAA B-cuts. Lauren Hall (4:18.32, 400 IM) and Yasi Jahanshahi (1:59.45, 200 fly) also swam B-cuts. Against Arizona, Beauchan came up just short of making it a two-day sweep of the breaststroke events, finishing second in both to Arizona's Annie Chandler, who posted times of 1:02.35 and 2:15.99.

Arizona and USC met in another Pac-10 showdown on Friday evening, with the Wildcats sweeping both the men's and women's meet. Arizona's Ana Agy and USC's Clement Lefert each won three events apiece: Agy took top honors in the 100 and 200 back and 100 fly, while Lefert won the 500 free, 1,000 free and 100 fly. Six other swimmers won two events apiece, including Haley Anderson (1,000 free, 500 free), Lyndsay DePaul (200 free, 400 IM), Annie Chandler (100 breast, 200 breast), Jordan Smith (50 free, 100 free), Zoltan Povazsay (200 free, 500 free) and Jack Brown (200 breast, 400 IM).

Wingate swept Limestone in dual action on Saturday. Cheryl Vaccaro won the 100 and 200 free for the Wingate women, while Gus Chagas and Mason Norman were each victorious in three events for the men.

Kenyon fell to Ohio on Saturday in a tough meet while posting some sterling times in the process. Anna Connolly finished just under the B-cut in the 200 free with a 1:55.66. Hannah Saiz raced to victory in the 200 fly with a 2:08.25, while Nicole Kett touched first in the 200 breast in 2:26.17.

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