Big 12 Weekly Recap: WVU Prevails Against Big East

Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold / Aringo Photos

By Jason Tillotson.

The Big 12 conference showed some seriously fast swimming this weekend. TCU men saw the Mustangs out of SMU while the lady Horned Frogs hosted the first Big 12 showdown of the year by inviting Kansas to Fort Worth. WVU took on the beasts from the Big East, Seton Hall and Xavier while Iowa State battled Omaha.

Here’s a closer look at this weekend’s match ups:

TCU Men host SMU

The Texas Christian University Men’s swimming and diving teams took on Southern Methodist University this passed Wednesday, ultimately falling to the mustangs 184-114.

The horned frogs did snag a pair of wins though, one came from freshman standout Joao Andrade in the 200 freestyle, who swam a 1:41.29 for the gold. His teammate Jakub Swierczynski posted a 57.52 in the 100 breaststroke, which was good enough for another win for TCU.

The TCU men will be travel to Iowa State next week for their next, and first, Big 12 match up.

TCU Women host Kansas

Just a few days after the men’s squad took on SMU, the lady Horned Frogs were in action in Fort Worth, this time it was against conference rival Kansas University.

Prior to this weekend, Kansas brings in some serious momentum after having strong performances at their last two meets.

KU’s momentum definitely showed in Fort Worth this weekend with the Jayhawks winning 12 individual events to TCU’s three victories.

The narrow meet started early when Kansas barely edged TCU in the 200 medley relay. Kansas put together a 1:44.62 while TCU posted a 1:45.42.

Kansas pulled off a sweep in the very next event, the 1000 freestyle, with Jenny Nusbaum leading the way in 10:18.91. Nusbaum was followed by her teammates Crissie Blomquist in 10:19.81 and Nika Fellows in 10:39.13.

TCU was great at one thing this weekend, and that was getting third. The lady Horned Frogs placed third nine times against Kansas, which allowed the Jayhawks to gather several 1-2 punches throughout the meet.

The diving events both flipped in favor of TCU, with both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events going to the Horned Frogs. Tyler Sides from TCU scored 256.19 points for the wine on 1-meter while teammate Grace Newell scored 239.55 points to win the 3-meter event.

TCU will take a week off before they travel with their men’s team to Iowa State to face the Cyclones and South Dakota.

Photo Courtesy: West Virginia Athletics

West Virginia hosts Seton Hall

In the Big 12 vs. Big East weekend, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams from West Virginia University hosted Seton Hall University on Friday and Xavier University on Saturday.

On the women’s side, the lady mountaineers won six out of seven total events against Seton Hall and five out of seven events versus Xavier.

On Friday’s meet versus Seton Hall we saw the WVU trio of Giselle Gursoy, Sofi Bernard and Luisa Winkler go 1-2-3 in the 200 freestyle. Other impressive performances were seen from senior Emma Harris and freshman Olivia Heflin in the 100 breaststroke. Harris was able to win in 1:05.89 while Heflin was closely behind to finish the sweep in 1:06.10.

In the 200 butterfly it was the battle of two Morgan’s. WVU teammates Morgan Bullock and Morgan Carr went 1-2 in the event posting a 2:01.30 and a 2:01.65, respectively.

On the men’s side, WVU won all seven events versus Seton Hall. The most impressive swim was perhaps Nate Carr’s 1:39.64 in the 200 freestyle, the only man to break 1:40 in that event. Another great performance came from senior mountaineer Tristen Disibio, who posted the fastest time in the Big 12 so far this year in the 100 breaststroke by swimming a 55.79. Merwane Elmerini was the only man in the 50 freestyle field to post a time under 21 seconds.

West Virginia hosts Xavier

On the second day of the Big 12 vs. Big East weekend, Xavier was the next opponent for WVU.

Xavier came out of the gates by winning the first contested event of the morning; the 100 freestyle. Xavier’s Emily Conners narrowly held of WVU’s Sofia Bernard by posting a 52.24 to Bernard’s 52.25.

Morgan Bullock pulled off a tough double today by winning the 100 butterfly in 56.10 and then stepping up on the blocks, not more than 10-minutes later, to win the the 200 I.M. in 2:05.71.

The Xavier women were able to come out on top in the 200 freestyle relay by putting together a 1:37.26. The lady Mountaineers followed closely in a 1:37.58.

On the men’s side, WVU was able to secure six out of seven available wins of the meet.

Nate Carr secured his third individual win of the meet by winning the 400 I.M. in 3:54.86, which was nearly 10 seconds faster than his teammate, David Dixon, who swam a 4:03.11.

Sprinter Merwane Elmerini secured his second win of the meet, this time it was the 100 freestyle. Elmerini swam a 45.86 for the win while his teammate Drew Damich followed in 46.50.

The WVU men were able to sweep the 500 freestyle with Trayton Saladin, Max Gustafson and James Koval, who all posted a time in 4:40 or better.

The only event Xavier University was able to come out on top in was, the final event, the 200 freestyle relay as a result of a disqualification of WVU’s “A” relay. Nevertheless, Xavier did post a 1:25.04 to get the win while WVU’s “B” relay was able to put together a 1:25.93.

WVU has two weekends off until their divers travel to the Frank Elm Invitational and their swimmers head to Ohio State University for the OSU Invitational.

Photo Courtesy: Iowa State Athletics Communications

Iowa State hosts Omaha

The Iowa State University women’s swimming team took on the women’s team from University of Omaha and emerged victorious, winning the meet 198-91 and winning 13 total events.

The Iowa State Cyclones blew away their competition in most of the individual races and relays. The meet kicked off with the 400 medley relay, which the Cyclones went 1-2 in, then came the 1000 freestyle, in which the Cyclones also executed the 1-2 punch with sophomore duo Jessi Storer and Kami Pankratz.

It wasn’t until the sixth event where Omaha would break the win streak established by Iowa State. That event was the 200 butterfly and Omaha’s freshman superstar Hailey Brull was able to hold off Kennedy Tranel in a time of 2:10.84.

ISU would go on to win every other event until, interestingly enough, the 100 butterfly, where Omaha sent it senior Olivia McLain to take the win in 57.81. The lady Cyclones were able to win on both diving boards as well, which helped their total point scores in the end.

The Cyclones have a weekend off then they host Big 12 enemy TCU and South Dakota.

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