Robert Owen Impressive on Night Two at Virginia Tech Invite

Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold / Aringo Photos

Virginia Tech continued to pile up the wins at their home Fall Invitational Friday evening. Klaudia Nazieblo, Jessica Hespeler and Brandon Fiala all posted solid swims for the Hokies, but the highlight came with Robert Owen’s dominant victory in the men’s 400 IM.

Purdue captured first place in the women’s 200 medley relay, edging Virginia Tech 1:40.54 to 1:40.76. Jackie Smailis, Jinq En Phee and Taite Kitchel put Danielle Auckley in position to run down Virginia Tech anchor Adriana Grabski and pick up first place. Coming in third was Purdue’s “B” team in 1:41.21.

Virginia Tech’s men’s squad cruised in the 200 medley relay with Jake Lamparella, Brandon Fiala, Brent Benedict and Ian Ho finishing in 1:28.02. Purdue finished second in 1:29.22, just ahead of the U.S. Naval Academy (1:29.34).

Purdue’s Alex Clarke dominated the women’s 400 IM, winning in 4:19.67, while VT’s Eleanor Matheson edged out Old Dominion’s Emilie Petit for second, 4:22.02 to 4:22.61. Owen then crushed the field in the men’s 400 IM, winning in 3:48.30. Teammate Michael Craddock touched out Yale’s Jonathan Rutter for second, 3:54.80 to 3:54.89.

Nazieblo beat out a slew of Purdue swimmers to win the 100 fly, touching in 53.51. Boilermakers Kitchen (53.86) and Emmy Rawson (54.31) rounded out the top three. The men’s 100 fly title went to VT’s Norbert Szabo in 47.97, ahead of Navy’s Ryan Bailey (48.57) and Villanova’s Jake Hoin (48.81).

Hespeler cruised to the top spot in the women’s 200 free, clocking 1:45.64. Purdue’s Kaersten Meitz finished second in 1:47.09, exactly one second ahead of Villanova’s Alexa Fabbri (1:48.09). Purdue’s Filip Bujoczek finished first in the men’s 200 free in 1:38.06, beating out Hokies Hassler Carroll (1:38.87) and Adam Stacklin (1:39.33).

Phee grabbed the win in the 100 breast in 1:01.49, while Kelly Henry finished second for Virginia Tech in 1:01.97. Another Boilermaker, Cady Farlow, ended up third in 1:02.10. Fiala finished first in the 100 breast by more than a second, posting a 53.15. Navy’s Marlin Brutkiewicz (54.20) and Purdue’s Marat Amaltdinov (54.88) completed the top three.

Nazieblo won her second of the night in the women’s 100 back, recording the only time under 54 with a 53.79. Teammate Fiona Donnelly came in at 54.04 for second, just ahead of Smailis (54.11). Lamparella picked up another Hokie win in the men’s 100 back, posting a 48.30. UConn’s William Kearsey touched second in 48.90, and Purdue’s Kiki Komlenic finished third in 49.05.

In diving, Rutgers’ Addy Walkowiak won the women’s one-meter with a score of 303.20. VT’s Ashlynn Peters (293.10) and Yale’s Lilybet MacRae (277.95) finished second and third, respectively. The Hokies swept the top four spots in the men’s three-meter event with Mauro Castro-Silva winning the event with a score of 366.40, followed by teammates Jack Gigliotti (354.40), Benjamin Schiesl (350.00) and Eduardo Castro-Silva (342.90).

Virginia Tech cruised to the top spot in the women’s 800 free relay as Donnelly, Hespeler, Grabski and Nazieblo posted a 7:14.50. Purdue finished second in 7:19.58, and well back in third was Villanova in 7:27.65. The VT men then took first in the 800 free relay in 6:35.64 with Szabo, Fiala, Carroll and Owen leading the way. Yale (6:40.79) and Navy (6:43.91) completed the top three spots.

The Hokies maintain a big lead in the men’s team race, leading Purdue 852.5 to 412.5, with Navy just behind the Boilermakers with 401. Purdue is closer to the Virginia Tech women, trailing 751-654 heading into the final day of the meet.

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