Big 12 Recap: WVU Sets Nine Pool Records Against Villanova

Photo Courtesy: Liz Parke

By Jason Tillotson.

This week’s Big 12 action was all but disappointing. We saw the Mountaineers dominate the pool against Villanova by setting nine pool records across both squads, while the Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated the Iowa State Cyclones this Friday at the Beyer Pool in Ames, Iowa.

Check below for a breakdown of this week’s coverage.

WVU Bests Villanova

The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams traveled to Villanova and broke nine pool records, as the men clinched a road dual-meet victory.

Competing for the third consecutive weekend to open the season, the men beat Villanova, 236-64, while the women were edged by the Wildcats, 154-146. The men broke five pool records, and the women set four.

Sophomore David Dixon led the way for the Mountaineers with three individual wins, two in pool-record time, and a relay victory. Junior Morgan Bullock also won three individual races, two coming in pool-record fashion.

In all, seven swimmers and divers finished the day with multiple individual victories.

Along with Dixon and Bullock, redshirt senior Tristen Di Sibio and Julia Nilton earned pool-record performances in individual events.

Additionally, three Mountaineer relay teams, including the women’s 200 medley relay, comprised of sophomore Ally VanNetta, senior Emma Harris, Nilton and sophomore Giselle Gursoy, set Villanova Swim Complex records. The men’s 200 medley relay (sophomore Angelo Russo, Di Sibio, Dixon and senior Merwane El Merini) and men’s 400 freestyle relay (El Merini, senior Drew Damich, sophomore Max Gustafson and junior Sam Neaveill) also recorded pool records.

On the diving boards, the Mountaineers finished first and second in all four events.

Seniors Julia Calcut and Averly Hobbs finished 1-2 on both 1- and 3-meter for the women, while freshman Nick Cover and redshirt freshman Jacob Cardinal Tremblay did the same for the men.

Calcut won with a 274.87 on 1-meter, and a 298.27 on 3-meter, while Cover earned victories on 1-meter, with a 293.77, and on 3-meter, with a 344.03.

Competition in the pool began with a pair of Villanova Swim Complex records by the Mountaineers in the 200 medley relays. VanNetta, Harris, Nilton and Gursoy touched the wall in 1:44.10 to win the women’s event, while Russo, Di Sibio, Dixon and El Merini won for the WVU men in 1:29.21.

Freshman Tom Hubbard followed with a win in the men’s 1,000 freestyle, with a 9:52.70, to lead a 1-2-3 finish for the West Virginia men. Freshman Lauryn Kallay led the women to place second, in 10:18.41.

In the next event, Kallay followed up with a win in the women’s 200 freestyle. She won by 0.23 seconds, with a time of 1:52.10. The men again claimed the top-three places, led by Gustafson’s 1:41.05 to win by nearly a second.

The men continued their strong showing in the 500 freestyle, as Gustafson’s 4:41.44 was his second win of the day and led West Virginia to a 1-2-3-4 finish. Kallay’s 5:02.19 was good for second place and led the WVU women in the event.

Competition concluded with the 400 freestyle relay, where the men picked up another pool record and a 1-2 finish. El Merini, Damich, Gustafson and Neaveill won by more than six seconds, with a 3:02.89. The women placed second with a time of 3:26.95.

Saturday marked the fifth consecutive year the Mountaineers have competed against Villanova. With the victory, the men’s team remained undefeated on the season by improving to 3-0, while the women fell to 2-1.

Up next, the Mountaineer swimmers travel to the Ohio State Invitational, in Columbus, Ohio, while the divers compete at the Navy Diving Invitational, in Annapolis, Maryland, from Nov. 15-17.

The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with West Virginia University Swimming and Diving. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

Iowa State Falls to Nebraska

The Iowa State Cyclones were edged out in a final score of 115-184 by Nebraska on Friday night. Although, some good did come of he matchup when diver Dana Liva post Zone-qualifying scores on both boards, but the effort fell just short of a victory.

Iowa State started the meet well, the quartet of Emily Haan, Martha Haas, Elynn Tan and Anna Andersen won the 200 medley relay with a 1:44.32. The squad won by over a second, securing a Cyclone victory. Andersen and Emma Ruehle took second and third in the 200 free.

Martha Haas (1:04.52) swam her fastest time of the season to just out-touch Nebraska by two-tenths in the 100 breast. Elynn Tan won the 50 free to put the score at 73-58 at the first diving break.

In the diving well, Liva secured a trip down to Austin for the 2018 Zone Diving Championships in March. Her personal-best score of 285.85 bested the zone-qualifying score of 280.

On one-meter, Liva again posted a qualifying score of 273.30, over the 265 mark. She finished fourth on three-meter and third on one-meter. Sydney Ronald finished with a 255.25 on one-meter, good for fifth place.

Rizzo was touched out by Nebraska, her time of 2:08.66 just .04 off the leader. The Cyclones won the 400 free relay with the group of Tan, Andersen, Hundley and Haan. Their time of 3:30.76 was well under the Cyclones’ season-best mark set last weekend.

The Cyclones travel to Dallas next weekend for a Friday night meet against Big 12 opponent TCU and the host SMU

The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Iowa State Swimming and Diving. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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