Case Western Reserve University swimmers totaled six NCAA Division III 'B' cut times during the final day of competition at the Wooster Invitation, propelling both the men's and women's squads to first-place finishes at the meet.
The men won the meet for the sixth-straight season, totaling 1,775.5 points to finish more than 500 points ahead of second-place Gannon University (1,236.5 points). Ohio Northern University finished in third place among the nine squads with 1,088 points.
CWRU's women dominated the 11-team field with 1,563 points, finishing well ahead of second-place Gannon (1,216) and third-place Wooster (1,138). It marked the squad's first-ever first-place finish at the meet.
The Spartan men were particularly strong in both the 200-yard butterfly and the 1,650-yard freestyle, sweeping the top-three in each event. Senior Aaron Tam won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:51.89, while sophomore Logan Smith finished second (1:53.42 in the prelims) and sophomore Aaron Pang third (1:53.72 in the prelims). Each of the times were good for an NCAA 'B' cut.
Sophomore Drew Hamilton paced the squad in the 1,650-yard freestyle, winning the event with a 'B' cut time of 16:04.19. It marked his second 'B' cut of the meet.
Junior David Merriman finished second in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a 'B' cut time of 16:15.85, while freshman Keith Erichsen claimed third with a time of 16:16.88.
Also for the Spartan men, senior diver Connor Farrell won the three-meter dive with an NCAA qualifying score of 487.40, just a day after winning the one-meter dive with a school-record score.
For the women, freshman Suhan Mestha notched the first NCAA 'B' cut of her career with a win in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.61.
Other top finishers for the Spartan men on Saturday included sophomore Oliver Hudgins in the 200-yard backstroke (1:52.41, second), senior Elliott Kerbel in the 100-yard freestyle (47.62, 12th), and junior Daniel Primachenko in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:08.97, fourth).
For the women, additional top finishers were freshman Kelsey Holmberg in the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:11.28, fourth), sophomore Jennifer Eurich in the 100-yard freestyle (53.51 in the preliminaries, seventh), freshman Alexa Simoneau in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:31.13 in the preliminaries, eighth), senior Rebecca Pakradooni in the 200-yard butterfly (2:10.79 in the preliminaries, sixth) and sophomore Brooke Hortness in the three-meter dive (362.65, fourth).
The Spartans will be off from intercollegiate competition for over a month, before beginning the 2016 portion of their schedule on January 16th at Allegheny College.
