Virginia Tech Men Sweep Quad Meet, Beat Virginia For First Time Since 1981

CHRISTIANSBURG, Virginia, January 18. THE Virginia Tech men’s swimming and diving team swept Harvard and Wisconsin and beat Virginia for the first time in more than 32 years as the Hokies wrapped up a two-day dual meet this afternoon. Meanwhile, Virginia women swept all three of their dual meets over Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Miami.

Virginia Tech Press Release

The No. 15 Virginia Tech men’s swimming and diving team beat Virginia in a dual meet for the first time since Nov. 14, 1981 to highlight a stellar Saturday afternoon for the H2Okies at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

The men, who moved to 12-2 on the season with a trio of wins this weekend, earned victories in six of the 13 events on Saturday, giving them top honors in eight of the 20 events over the two-day meet.

Junior Collin Higgins had a standout day for the H2Okies, taking home a win in the 100 Backstroke and besting a trio of Virginia swimmers with an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 48.44, while also swimming the first leg for the 400 Medley Relay that wrapped up the weekend with a win in a time of 3:16.07.
The H2Okies also dominated the 100 Butterfly, taking the top two spots in the event. Junior Morgan Latimer led the way with a time of 48.68 and was followed closely by senior Nick Tremols in second, who clocked a 49.69.

The divers turned in another solid performance on the boards, as senior Ryan Hawkins took home a victory in the 1-meter event with a score of 360.55, while his teammates Jared Butts (338.55) and TJ Shinholser (308.60) finished in third and fourth, respectively.

As a team, the men bested a trio of highly-touted opponents, as both No. 18 Virginia and No. 24 Harvard have cracked the national rankings, while Wisconsin is receiving votes. The H2Okies grabbed a 264-105 win over Wisconsin and a 232.50-137.50 victory over Harvard, while besting their in-state rivals 217-153, the first victory over the Cavaliers in more than 30 years.

“This was a total team effort by our men this weekend,” Head Coach Ned Skinner said. “I am very impressed by their team dynamic and their desire to swim and dive for the cause. Our junior and senior classes have put together an environment that I have never seen in my 23 years as a head coach.”

On the women’s side, junior Kaylea Arnett kept her momentum going, winning her second diving event in as many days with a score of 342.60 in the 1-meter event, besting her nearest competitor by almost 30 points. Freshman Ashley Buchter notched a score of 298.95 to take home third place for the H2Okies.

Sophomore Weronika Paluszek grabbed a pair of runner-up finishes, clocking a 1:03.39 in the 100 Breaststroke and swimming the second leg of the 200 Medley Relay, which finished in 1:44.97.

The women took home a dominant victory over Miami, 263-98, while dropping a pair of tough decisions to Wisconsin, 203-164, and No. 9 Virginia, 245-125.
“Our women continue to build momentum and I have faith in this team,” Skinner said. “I believe in them and they have competed well against some top competition. This will serve us well as we move forward.”

Prior to Saturday afternoon’s session, the final home dual meet action of the season, the H2Okies recognized their 12 seniors: Emmett Dignan, Hawkins, Garrett Hehn, Nathan Hoisington, Nick Tremols, John Trope, Brittany Boone, Aubree Duncan, Katarina Filova, Caroline Higgins, Natalie Leake and Rachel Sepanski.

The H2Okies will be back in action next weekend, when they head south to Wilmington, N.C. for a dual meet against UNC Wilmington on Saturday, Jan. 25.

Virginia Press Release

The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams picked up 11 event wins on the way to five dual-meet victories as competition closed Saturday (Jan. 18) at a two-day meet in Christiansburg, Va.

The No. 9 UVa women (7-1) picked up dual-meet wins over Virginia Tech (245-125), Wisconsin (225-139) and Miami (266-93), while the No. 18 Virginia men (4-3) defeated No. 24 Harvard (225.5-137.5) and Wisconsin (240-127), but fell to the Hokies (217-153).

The Cavaliers won both 400 IMs, with junior Shaun Casey (Port Orange, Fla.) claiming the women’s race in 4:18.51 and classmate David Ingraham (Spartanburg, S.C.) winning the men’s event in 3:54.71.

In the women’s 200 free, Smith won in a time of 1:48.63, ahead of senior Caroline Kenney (Suwanee, Ga.), who was second in 1:52.62. In the men’s 200 free, senior Parker Camp (Brentwood, Tenn.) touched first in 1:38.71.

Freshman Laura Simon (Simmern, Germany) finished first in the women’s 100 breast in 1:02.56, while sophomore Yannick Kaeser (Mumpf, Switzerland) placed second in the men’s 100 breast in 56.17.

In the women’s 100 back, the Cavaliers had the top three finishers, with sophomore Courtney Bartholomew (Holland, Mich.) winning in 53.78 and freshman Kaitlyn Jones (Newark, Del.) and senior Charlotte Clarke (Adelaide, Australia) placing second and third. Senior Jack Murfee (Nashville, Tenn.) was second in the men’s 100 back in 49.12.

Just like in the women’s 1,650 free on Friday evening, Smith and sophomore Hanne Borgersen (Frederick, Md.) went 1-2 in the women’s 500 free, finishing in 4:48.70 and 4:54.66, respectively.

In between the two swimming sessions, junior JB Kolod placed second on the men’s 1-meter diving boards with a score of 341.85.

In the women’s 200 IM, junior Ellen Williamson (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) touched first in a time of 2:01.74, while freshman Jones was second in 2:03.63. Camp won the men’s 200 IM in a time of 1:49.31. Sophomore Luke Papendick (Kinnelon, N.J.), senior Taylor Grey (Williston, Vt.) and Ingraham followed Camp to give UVa a 1-2-3-4 finish in the event.

The Cavalier women also picked up two relay wins Saturday in the 800 free relay and 400 medley relay. The 800 free relay squad of Smith, Kenney, Jones and senior Rachel Naurath (Manakin-Sabot, Va.) finished in 7:25.03, while the 400 medley relay team of Bartholomew, Simon, Williamson and senior Emily Lloyd (Severna Park, Md.) posted a time of 3:41.72.

Virginia returns to action next weekend when they travel to face Duke on Friday, Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. in Durham, N.C. The Cavaliers take on North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Saturday, Jan. 25. The men’s meet is scheduled for a noon start, while the women’s meet will begin at 3 p.m.

Harvard Press Release

Harvard’s No. 24-ranked men’s swimming and diving team defeated Wisconsin, but was just edged out by No. 15 Virginia Tech and No. 18 Virginia in a two-day quad-meet hosted by VT. The Crimson (5-2, 4-0 Ivy League) downed the Badgers, 221.50-145.50, while falling just short of the Hokies, 232.50-137.50, and Cavaliers, 222.50-147.50.

Overall, Harvard took home four victories over the two days, including two on day one and two on day two. Harvard junior sprint freestyle and breaststroker Griffin Schumacher represented the Crimson very well, having a hand in all four victories, including a pair of individual event wins in the 100 free (44.84) on Friday and the 50 free (20.33) on Saturday.

Schumacher also swam the first leg of the winning medley units for the winning 200 and the 400 free relays. He and seniors Danny Crigler, Oliver Lee and Chris Satterthwaite all combined to take the top spot in both events, clocking in at 1:21.19 in the 200 and 2:59.47 in the 400.

Together, the Crimson collected 13 total top-5 finishes including the four wins. Jack Pretto, Crigler, Jacob Luna and Schumacher took fourth place in the 200 medley relay, touching the wall in 1:31.46. Luna followed that up with a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly (49.88), and helped by swimming the third leg of the 400 medley relay unit to claim third place (3:20.77).

Satterthwaite (1:39.42) and junior Spenser Goodman (1:39.96) fared well in the brutally close 200 freestyle event, coming in second and fifth, respectively. Satterthwaite also took third in the 50 free (20.85), in front of co-captain Olver Lee in fourth (20.88). Freshman Eric Ronda took home a fourth place finish in the 100 breaststroke, clocking in at 56.99 for the Crimson.

The Crimson return to the pool on Jan. 31 for the annual H-Y-P tri-meet. Harvard will travel to New Haven to take on Yale and Princeton.

Wisconsin Press Release

After a solid collaborative effort on the first day of a meet at Virginia Tech, the Wisconsin men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams once again put together an all-out team effort on Saturday, the final day of competition.

The Badgers swam away with six event wins and 25 top-five finishes to close out the meet against teams from Virginia Tech, Virginia, Harvard (men) and Miami (women). The women finished the meet in front of Virginia Tech 203-164 and Miami 252-101 while falling to Virginia 139-225. The men were beat out by Virginia 127-240, Virginia Tech 105-264 and Harvard 145.50-221.50.

Highlighting the Badgers’ true team effort was the performance of their relay squads, which picked up five top-three finishes on the day.

The women dominated their respective relays, picking up a victory in both the 200-yard medley (1:41.92) and 200-yard freestyle (1:32.27) relay races. The ‘B’ relay quartet also held its own in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing in fourth with a time of 1.36.96.

The women also placed second in both the 800-yard freestyle (7:27.92) and 400-yard medley (3:44.82) relays.

On an individual level, junior Ivy Martin remained the epitome of consistency with top finishes in the 100-yard butterfly (54.94) and 50-yard freestyle (22.68), an NCAA B qualifying time. Freshman Chase Kinney finished in second place behind Martin in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.59.

Aja Van Hout continued to prove herself as a team leader, finishing second and earning an NCAA B cut in the 400-yard IM (4:19.10) and finishing third in the 200-yard IM (2:03.80). The Madison, Wis. native also contributed to the success of the relay races, swimming in two.

Sophomore Anna Meinholz rounded out the women’s top individual performances with a third-place spot in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:18.54).

On the men’s end, juniors Nick Schafer and Nick Caldwell were the day’s top performers, garnering victories in the 100-yard breaststroke (56.08) and 500-yard freestyle (4:27.30), respectively. Caldwell also finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.55).

Freshman Cannon Clifton finished out the men’s top individual races with a fifth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (21.08).

In the relay races, the men picked up four top-five finishes, coming in third in the 800-yard freestyle relay (6:39.49) and fourth in the 400-yard medley relay (3:50.80).

“The men’s 800-free relay I thought really stepped up and did what we call ‘relay up’,” UW head coach Whitney Hite said. “All of them were faster on the relay than they were individually, and that’s what I’m looking for, for people to step up and be faster.”

In the diving well, freshman Andrew Suchla added a 26th top-five finish to Wisconsin’s record, finishing fifth on the 1-meter board with a score of 302.00.

“It’s fine-tuning at this point,” Hite said. “I feel really good with where we are. We’ve done a hell of a lot of work, and we’ve been challenged in a lot of different ways. I really feel good with where we are at this point. It’s just time to sharpen it up.

“We’ve talked about not getting too wrapped up in the times or what our dual meet record is. I know that this team is going to be really, really good at the end, and that’s kind of just how we do things. We put in the work. We are going to be battle-tested, and we’re going to be tough.”

The Badgers return to the pool on Fri., Jan. 31 as they compete in the Big Ten Triple Duals in West Lafayette, Ind. Competition begins at 5 p.m. C.T.

Miami Press Release

The University of Miami swimming and diving team made its spring debut at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center this weekend, matching up against conference rivals Virginia and Virginia Tech as well as nonconference foes Harvard and Wisconsin.

“The team certainly had to be tough this weekend after a difficult segment of training the last few weeks,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “They battled hard, and in the end, we came out a stronger team than we went in.”

Redshirt junior diver Cheyenne Cousineau, who was named the 2013 Wendy Wyland Award winner by USA Diving in mid-December, delivered a highlight performance in her Miami Hurricanes debut. Cousineau finished second in both the 1-meter (298.20) and 3-meter (312.75), pacing all Miami divers on the weekend.

“It was great to have Cheyenne on the boards representing the Canes for the first time ever,” Kershaw said. “She came through with some important points for our team.”

Fellow divers Thea Vock and Kara McCormack also impressed against a talented pool of competition. Vock took third in the 1-meter (286.35) and sixth in the 3-meter (279.10), while McCormack captured fourth place in both events.

Another highlight for Miami was the performance of sophomore swimmer My Fridell in the 100-yard Butterfly. Fridell, who entered the meet with the fourth-fastest time of any conference swimmer in the event, came in second place with a time of 55.11 seconds.

The Sweden native came just shy of Wisconsin’s Ivy Martin (54.94) for first in the event.

“My’s showing in 100 Fly was certainly one of our highlights, as she beat all ACC opponents in the field,” Kershaw said.

Junior Heather Arseth, swimming in just her second competition of the season after injury forced her to skip much of the fall, captured eighth in the 100-yard Freestyle (52.18) – just behind Fridell’s sixth-place showing (52.09).

Among other solid showings were freshman Angela Algee in the 200 Fly (2:05.07, eighth place), freshman Julia Schippert in the 100 Breaststroke (1:05.43, sixth) and Arseth in both the 100 Backstroke (57.24, fourth) and 50 Free (23.98, fifth).

The Hurricanes return to the pool Fri., Jan. 31 with a dual meet against in-state rival Florida State. Action is set from Tallahassee beginning at 3 p.m.

Results For: Harvard, Miami, Virginia, Wisconsin vs. Virginia Tech, Day Two

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