NC State Women’s Relays Fire out of Gates at Day 1 of Dowd Invitational

Julia Poole; Photo Courtesy: Chris Baird

North Carolina State’s women’s 200 freestyle and 400 medley relay both ripped off A cuts at Day 1 of the Janis Hape Dowd Invitational hosted by the University of North Carolina Thursday.

NC State leads the team scoring for both men’s and women’s among the four schools at the event.

NC State started finals on the first night of three at the Dowd Invitational with an A cut in the 200 free relay, the team of Victoria Fonville, Kylee Alons, Sirena Rowe and Heather MacCausland clocking in at 1:27.00 to win by nearly three seconds. It’s the fastest time in the nation this year and third-best in program history.

The Wolfpack capped the night with a 3:29.46 in the 400 medley, with Katharine Berkoff, Olivia Calegan, Abby Arens and Alons winning in dominant fashion, more than two seconds quicker than the NCAA A standard and the second-fastest in the nation this season.

Dowd Invitational Team Scores:

Women: 1. NC State 370.5; 2. Virginia Tech 263; 3. UNC 204; 4. Duke 155.5
Men: 1. NC State 375.5; 2. UNC 246; 3. Virginia Tech 218.5; 4. Duke 174
Combined: 1. NC State 746; 2. Virginia Tech 481.5; 3. UNC 450; 4. Duke 329.5

Dowd Invitational Day 1 results

NC State scored a 1-2-3 sweep of the women’s 200 individual medley, led by Julia Poole in 1:56.34 (she was 1:56.19 in prelims). Emma Muzzy and MacCausland followed.

Rowe and Fonville went 1-2 in the 50 free, the Colombian Rowe quickest in 22.37 after Fonville went 22.35 in the morning. Alons won the 100 butterfly ahead of Arens. Both were quicker in the morning – 51.52 and 52.25, respectively. Kate Moore went 4:38.10 to win the 500 free decisively; her prelim time of 4:37.94 was a personal-best, improving the second-fastest time in program history.

On the men’s side, Eric Knowles and Ross Dant turned the 500 free into an all-NC State battle, Knowles winning in 4:14.07, .03 slower than Dant had been in the morning. It would be the only of the five individual events won by NC State, though the Wolfpack swept the 200 free (Noah Henderson, Hunter Tapp, Luke Sobolewski, Luke Miller in 1:18.08) and 400 medley relays (John Healy, Jack Moranetz, Sobolewski, Tapp in 3:08.37).

Virginia Tech got a win on the men’s side via Antani Ivanov, who went 46.18 to edge Sobolewski (who went 46.07 in the morning) by .02. Ivanov’s teammates Blake Manoff and Youssef Ramadan tied for fourth. Ivanov and Manoff helped Va Tech finish second in the 400 medley and third in the 200 free relay.

The Hokies’ Sarah Shackelford took third in the women’s 50 free. Chase Travis was second in the women’s 500 free, among four top-seven finishers.

Tyler Hill finished second in the men’s 50 free for UNC in 19.61 seconds with Jack Messenger fourth. Dimitrios Dimitriou was third in the 500 free. UNC’s men’s 200 free relay (Messenger, Hill, Tomas Sungaila, Eli Coan) came within .16 of upending the Wolfpack.

Grace Countie was fourth in the 50 free for UNC, Sophie Lindner was fourth in the 100 fly, and both women were part of runner-up finishes on both relays.

Duke’s Cole Reznick was the top finisher among the college athletes in the men’s 200 IM, going 1:45.70. He was behind only Wolfpack Elite’s Paul Le. Freshman Sarah Foley finished fifth in the 200 IM for the Blue Devils’ best women’s finish of the day.

The meet also featured swimmers from Wolfpack Elite and unattached swimmers:

Jack Saunderson went 46.23 in the 100 fly, good for third in finals.
Paul Le Nguyen, a Vietnam Olympic hopeful training at NC State, clocked in at 1:45.56 in finals of the 200 IM.
Justin Ress turned in a 19.17 in prelims of the 50 free.
Michael Chadwick went 19.36 in prelims, then 19.31 in finals of the 50. Both he and Ress are fresh off the ISL season.
Auburn grad Bailey Nero, swimming unattached, turned in a 52.65 in the 100 fly and a 1:58.63 in the 200 IM.

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