The Case Western Reserve University men's and women's swimming and diving teams each jumped out to an early lead at the Wooster Invitational, as both squads sat in first place after one day of competition at the meet.
The 16th-ranked Spartan men led the field of nine teams after the first day with 523 points, taking a 178.5 point lead over second-place Ohio Northern. The 19th-ranked women totaled 427 first day points to pace the 10-team field and lead second-place Gannon by 20 points.
CWRU sophomore Drew Hamilton earned a win in the men's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:35.97. He was one of five Spartans to qualify for the 'A' final of the event, along with freshman Brody Schmidt (fifth, 4:43.68), sophomore Logan Smith (sixth, 4:43.70 in the prelims), freshman Keith Erichsen (seventh, 4:44.34), and freshman James Hisnanick (eighth, 4:44.45 in the prelims).
Other 'A' final finishers for the Spartan men on Thursday included sophomores Aaron Pang (fifth, 1:57.04) and Dominic Kizek (eighth, 1:57.79 in the prelims) in the 200-yard individual medley and senior Elliott Kerbel (fourth, 21.26 in the prelims) and sophomore Oliver Hudgins (sixth, 21.39 in the prelims) in the 50-yard freestyle.
The Spartans had top-three finishes in both men's relays during the first day of the meet, with Kerbel, senior Aaron Tam, senior Alec David and Hudgins finishing second with a time of 1:24.44, and Hudgins, Kerbel, Tam and Hamilton finishing third in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:26.69.
Adding a win for the Spartans was the women's 400-yard medley relay team of freshman Suhan Mestha, freshman Alli Drohosky, senior Rebecca Pakradooni and sophomore Jennifer Eurich in a time of 3:56.48. Mestha also claimed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.67, while Eurich claimed fifth (24.26 in the prelims) and sophomore Inez Moore seventh (24.80) in the 50-yard freestyle.
The Spartans women's 200-yard freestyle relay of Eurich, freshman Bhavya Kumaran, freshman Lauren Homack and Moore added a third-place finish with a time of 1:38.57.
Action at the meet will resume on Friday at the Ellen Shapiro Natatorium, with the preliminaries starting at 10:00 a.m., with finals slated to follow at 6:00 p.m.
