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 Spartan men led the field of nine teams after the first day with 423 points, taking a 42 point lead over second-place Westminster. The women totaled 503 first day points to pace the 10-team field and lead second-place Edinboro by 41.

CWRU junior Drew Hamilton earned a win in the men's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:36.99. He was one of three Spartans to qualify for the 'A' final of the event, along with senior David Merriman (third, 4:43.18) and sophomore Keith Erichsen (fourth, 4:43.54).

Other 'A' final finishers for the Spartan men on Thursday included junior Aaron Pang (sixth, 1:57.03) in the 200-yard individual medley and junior Oliver Hudgins (tied fifth, 21:54) in the 50-yard freestyle.

The Spartan men's 400-yard medley relay of Hudgins, junior John Kilbane, Pang and Hamilton added a third-place finish with a time of 3:28.39.

The Spartans had top-three finishes in both women's relays during the first day of the meet, with junior Inez Moore, sophomore Bhavya Kumaran, sophomore Kelsey Holmberg and junior Jennifer Eurich finishing third with a time of 1:38.53 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, and Kumaran, Moore, sophomore Alli Drohosky and sophomore Casey Crowley finishing third in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:00.60.

The CWRU women also had five 'A' final finishers. Eurich claimed third (24.56) and Moore claimed fifth (24.71) in the 50-yard freestyle. Holmberg placed sixth in the 500-yard freestyle (5:16.20 in the prelims). Freshman Julia Ver Voort claimed sixth (2:11.56 in the prelims) and senior Selena Mufti claimed seventh (2:15.31) in the 200-yard individual medley.

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.