Mia Cheatwood Sets Program Record as Mountaineers Sweep West Virginia Invitational

Photo Courtesy: West Virginia Athletics

Mia Cheatwood Sets Program Record as Mountaineers Sweep West Virginia Invitational

Mia Cheatwood set a program record in winning the 100 breaststroke as West Virginia swept both titles at the West Virginia Invitational this weekend.

The Mountaineers won both meets comfortably, their 2,147 points easily besting Drexel’s 1,323.5 on the men’s side. With 1,805 on the women’s side, they were nearly 400 points clear of runner-up William & Mary.

Full Results

West Virginia Invitational Team Scores

Men’s

West Virginia 2147
Drexel 1323.5
Seton Hall 1231
William & Mary 1032.5
Old Dominion 964
Villanova 842
Colgate 410
Navy 162
Army 112
St. Bonaventure 106
Alabama 85
Youngstown State 50

Women’s

West Virginia 1805
William & Mary 1411.5
East Carolina 1076
Villanova 1066
Drexel 954.5
Seton Hall 729
Old Dominion 619
Colgate 497
Alabama 162
Duquesne 118
James Madison 108
Navy 78
Army 56
Liberty 55
Youngstown State 36
Toledo 31

Cheatwood won the 100 breast on Friday, the second day of the meet, in 1:00.56, slicing a half-second off the record set in 2019 by Morgan Callaway. It’s also an NCAA B cut, one of 12 total registered in the meet, split event between the women and men.

Cheatwood led off West Virginia’s winning 400 freestyle relay and swam breaststroke on both victorious medley relays. Her time of 2:12.01 won the 200 breast by 2.4 seconds in what was also an NCAA B cut. The freshman finished third in the 200 individual medley and also posted the third-fastest time in the 100 free at 49.94 seconds before scratching the final.

The Mountaineers won four of the five relays. Leading off both medley relays was Jaqueline McCutchan, who won the 100 backstroke and was second in the 100 free.

Abby Reardon won the 500 free, with teammate Miranda Kirtley third, and was third in the 200 free. Kirtley was second in the mile. She teamed with Reardon, 200 free winner Gabriela De La Torre and mile bronze medalist Olivia Busch to win the 800 free relay. Ada Szwabinska anchored three winning relays and finished third in the 50.

Katie Stevenson had a big meet for William & Mary. She finished second in the 50 free, a tenth behind Chelsea Graveraux of Drexel (who was also third in the 100 free), and .16 behind De La Torre in the 200 free. She finally got her win in the 100 free by .01 over McCutchen in 49.49. It was Stevenson’s anchor split of 49.11 that rallied the Tribe to a win in the 400 medley relay over West Virginia.

Handing off to her in that relay was Sophia Heilen, who set a William & Mary record in the 100 fly by going 53.03. That’s an NCAA B cut that gave her a win by 1.75 seconds. She also won the 200 fly, her time a 1:57.03 that trimmed three seconds off her prelims result. Both she and runner-up Katie White of Villanova (1:58.59) earned NCAA B cuts. Heilen added fourth place in the 100 breast.

The other women’s B cut came via Villanova’s Audrey Pastorek. She won the 200 back in 1:56.00 to get under the standard with a second to spare. Pastorek won both IMs and finished second in the 100 back. The 400 IM was a 1-2 finish with teammate Kaitlin Gravell. Winnie Jalet was third in both breaststroke events.

East Carolina’s Polina Rukosuev won the mile and was second in the 500. Her teammate Caitlin Reynera was Cheatwood’s runner-up in both breaststroke events, and Brynna Wolfe landed third in both backstroke swims.

Alabama, which sent only divers, won both springboard events. Courtney Russo took 1-meter with a score of 288.85. Ryleigh Rodgers’ score of 321.90 won 3-meter. Amy Read of Duquesne, who was second on 1-meter and third on 3-meter, prevailed on platform.

The men’s meet sped up once the final day rolled around, with five of the six B cuts notched on the final day of the meet. The only person to garner two was Drexel breaststroker Kacper Karnik. He went 53.53 to win the 100 breast on Friday, then turned in a 1:57.33 in the 200. Both are NCAA consideration times.

West Virginia, which dominated the meet, cashed in time wise. Conner McBeth won the 100 free in 43.06, a B cut. He had earlier won the 50 free, anchored both winning medley relays and the 400 free relay and led off the victorious 200 free relay. His teammate William Mullen booked a B cut in the mile, though he grabbed second place, four seconds behind the winning time of 15:20.52 by Villanova’s Jake McIntyre.

West Virginia pushed numbers to the top step of the podium. Max Nielsen and Mullen went 1-2 in the 500 free, Nielsen prevailing by .02 seconds in 4:27.99. Nielsen was also third in the 100 free. Roanoke Shirk won the 200 free, Justin Heimes claimed the 100 back and was third in the 200 and Adam McDonald was the runner-up in both breaststroke events. Four different divers earned platform spots, with Owen Johns winning 3-meter and finishing second on 1-meter, Glenn Eloriaga taking silvers on 3-meter and platform and Patrick Burke winning platform.

Drexel had a massive meet. It started Thursday with a scintillating race between Sebastian Smith and Alessio Gianni in the 200 IM. Smith got the win by one-hundredth, in 1:48.68, then turned around to finish second in the 50 free one event later. Both would narrowly miss B cuts on Day 2 – Smith by .04 seconds with his winning time of 47.27 seconds in the 100 fly; Gianni by .05 in the 400 IM when he won in 3:51.36. Gianni added gold in the 200 back on Saturday.

The last B cut went to Seton Hall’s Michael Klimaszewski. He won the 200 fly in a 1-2 with teammate Justin Oosterwyk, his time of 1:46.27 just inside the B standard. Klimaszewski was second in the 100 fly.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use