Ohio State Women, Grand Canyon Men Lead After Day 1 of 2015 FGCU Classic

Photo Courtesy: Ohio State Athletics

The Ohio State women and Grand Canyon men held leads after day one of the 2015 FGCU Classic in Florida.

Ohio State Press Release:

Ohio State made its competitive debut for the 2015-16 season on Friday, sending 12 swimmers to compete in the FGCU Eagle Swimming Classic. After an afternoon’s-worth of events, the Buckeyes will enter Saturday in first place among the six teams competing this weekend.

With 191 points, Ohio State holds a slim margin over fellow 2015 NCAA Qualifier Florida Gulf Coast; the Eagles are just one point behind with 190. Rounding out the top three is South Carolina with 169 points.

Eight events took place on Friday with each consisting of a consolation (B) final and a championship (A) final. The Buckeyes placed first in seven of the possible 16 heats, with Meg Bailey earning two of those.

The meet began with the 200 medley relay, and Ohio State claimed a victory in the B heat while placing second in the A heat. In the next event, the 400 IM, Bailey and Lindsey Clary both claimed victories, putting the Buckeyes in the driver’s seat. Bailey’s dominance of the breaststroke portion sealed the deal en route to her win.

The next Buckeye sweep came in the 50 free, with Liz Li and Annie Jongekrijg placing first in their respective heats. Camey Rabold’s win in the 200 backstroke rounded out the day in terms of victories for Ohio State.

Rutgers Press Release:

After the first day of action on Friday, the Rutgers swimming team is currently fourth with a score of 141 at the Florida Gulf Coast University Classic in Fort Meyers, Fla.

“We had a very strong night and I’m proud of the ladies and how they approached their first travel meet,” said head coach Petra Martin, who made her debut at the helm of the Scarlet Knights. “They’re putting all the new elements we’ve worked on into their racing and getting better with them. It’s great to have a strong swim this early in the season and we’re excited for tomorrow’s session.”

Fellow Big Ten Conference member Ohio State currently leads the field with a score of 191, followed by the host Eagles with a team total of 190. South Carolina rounds out the top three with a score of 169.

Senior Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.) was successful during day one, finishing first in the 200 backstroke. Swimming in lane four, Wu hit the wall with a top time of 1:58.71, a NCAA B qualifying standard.

Junior Rachel Stoddard (Hillsborough, N.J.) registered a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, securing a time of 1:03.47 during the final heat. Senior Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.) also produced a top-three individual finish, completing the 400 individual medley in third place with a time of 4:28.67.

In team events, Pfaff, Stoddard, Wu and junior Meghan Kiely (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) helped the Scarlet Knights secure third place in the 200 medley relay, completing the race with a time of 1:43.74.

FGCU Press Release:

An all-around team effort, bookended by a pair of wins in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, has the FGCU swimming & diving team just one point behind leader Ohio State, 191-190, after Day 1 of the FGCU Classic on Friday.

The Eagles will look to overtake the Big Ten member and fellow 2015 NCAA Championships participant when Day 2 gets underway on Saturday from the FGCU Aquatics Center at 10:30 a.m. FGCU leads SEC foe South Carolina (169) by 21 points, while Rutgers (4th, 141), University at Buffalo (5th, 122) and Grand Canyon (6th, 117) round out the scoring in an extremely competitive event – the first of its kind the Green and Blue have hosted.

Eight events were held on Friday night, and FGCU posted season-best times in six of them. Leading the way again for the Eagles was sophomore Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey) as she was a member of the 200 medley and 400 free relay teams, in addition to winning the A Final of the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.65.

Joining Armitage on the 200 medley relay team which started the evening by posting a season-best 1:41.84 time was junior Barbara Caraballo (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Indian River), sophomore Yee Ching Wong (Hong Kong, China/Diocesan Girl’s School) and freshman Katie Latham (Deal, Kent, United Kingdom/Sir Roger Manwood’s School). Caraballo (pictured), Latham, Armitage and freshman Hannah Burdge (Stuart, Fla./Martin County HS) then dominated the 400 free relay to cap the night, winning by nearly two seconds as they touched in a season-best 3:24.29. Combined, those two A Final teams earned the Eagles 64 of their 190 points (33 percent).

“It was a great first night for us,” commented FGCU head coach Neal Studd. “We had a lot of people step up, especially some of our youngsters who made significant contributions. We finished really strong, and to win both relays was big for us. Tomorrow should be another exciting day.”

Trailing Ohio State, 141-125, entering the final two events of the night in the 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay, the Eagles cut into the Buckeyes’ cushion significantly. In addition to the aforementioned finishes by the relay team and Armitage, junior Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy) won the B Final of the 100 breast in a time of 1:03.92, earning seven points.

When combined with Armitage’s 16 in the A Final, it gave the Green and Blue 23 points in that event compared with Ohio State’s 16. FGCU then secured 42 points in the 400 free relay as the group of redshirt senior Lani Cabrera (Barbados/St. Ursala’s Secondary School), sophomore Kristin Julien (San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago/St. Stephen’s College), Wong and Leter finished second in the B Final in a time of 3:31.34 to secure 10 of those points. Meanwhile, Ohio State only netted 34 points, and over those final two events the Eagles trimmed their deficit from 16 to only one.

In addition to being a member of both winning relay teams, Latham secured a personal best in the 50-yard freestyle as she touched in 23.03, just .04 off an NCAA B Cut and .06 behind the winner in the A Final from Ohio State. Julien finished second in the B Final of the same in a time of 23.92.

Wong posted a season-best 55.98 in the 100 butterfly as she finished second in the A Final to garner 13 points for the Eagles following splits of 26.19 and 29.79. Freshman Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Charlottenlund, Denmark/Ordrup Gymnasium) posted a second-place finish in the B Final with a 57.30 time.

Swimming the 200 freestyle for the first time this year, Cabrera won the B Final in 1:52.19, securing seven points for the Green and Blue. In the 400-yard IM, Caraballo turned in a season-best 4:26.62 en route to a second-place finish in the B Final.

Junior Sandra Wilk (Lexington, Ky./Paul Lawrence Dunbar HS) had a season-best time of her own as she touched in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:05.18 in the A Final – a fourth-place finish but good enough to secure 11 important points for the Eagles. Wilk also was a member of the 200 medley relay team in the B Final which finished in second place in a time of 1:45.09 as she was joined by Leter, Elmgreen and Julien.

South Carolina Press Release:

The South Carolina swimming and diving team opened the season at the FGCU Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla. on Friday with the Gamecock men finishing day one in second place with 199 points and the women tallying 169 points for third place.

Ohio State is atop the women’s leaderboard with 191 points and just a one-point edge over second-place Florida Gulf Coast. Grand Canyon University is in first place on the men’s side with a two-point lead over the Gamecocks. Buffalo and FAU are in third in fourth place, respectively, in the men’s standings.

The women’s squad opened the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay as the team of Heather Merritt, Ellen Johnson, Paige Maynard and Caroline Petrone recorded a time of 1:45.07. The men followed with a second-place finish (1:29.88) from the team of Bryce Kananowiz, Nils Wich-Glasen, Kevin Leithold and Jonathan Boland.

The Gamecock freshmen had a strong first day, highlighted by Paige Maynard’s win in the 100 butterfly (54.86). Cody Bekemeyer (400 IM) and Finn Minuth (100 Butterfly) won the consolation heat in their respective events while Emma Barksdale took second in the consolation hear of the 400 IM.

Sophomores Akram Mahmoud, Tomas Peribonio ad Taylor Worrell all recorded a win on the day. Mahmoud (1:39.19) and Worrell (1:51.17) claimed first in the 200 freestyle while Peribonio’s win came in the 400 IM (3:55.56). Fellow sophomore Nils Wich-Glasen finished just .02 seconds out of first place in the 100 breaststroke with a NCAA B cut of 55.31.

The men concluded the day with a first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The foursome of Boland, Peribonio, Mahmoud and Leithold touched the wall 3:00.44. The women’s team of Meredith Vay, Worrell, Maynard and Merritt earned a third-place finish with a time of 3:28.95.

NOTABLES
• Freshman Paige Maynard recorded the first win of her collegiate career, with a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly.
• Freshman Cody Bekemeyer won the consolation heat of the 400 IM. His time of 3:55.59 would have secured him a second place finish in the championship final.
• For the second-straight year, Nils Wich-Glasen became the first Gamecocks to record an NCAA provisional cut time.

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