Case Western Reserve University sophomore Calvin Tecson broke the school record in the 50-yard freestyle, while first-year Maria Pritchett broke the school record in the 200-yard individual medley during the first day of competition at the Wooster Invitational, as both the men's and women's squads sit in first place at the meet.
The Spartan women led the field of seven teams after the first day with 589 points, taking a 101 lead over second-place Edinboro. The men totaled 690 first day points to pace the six-team field and lead second-place Mount Union by 255 points.
Tecson paced the squad in the men's 50-yard freestyle, placing first in the event with a school record time of 20.77. That time bests the previous school record of 20.79 set back in 2007 by former Spartan John Erickson. He was one of five Spartans to qualify for the 'A' final of the event, along with first-year Will Bryant (second, 21.18), sophomore Ryan Gilbert (sixth, 21.50), sophomore Neil Wible (seventh, 21.68) and first-year Andrew Smith (eighth, 21.63 in the prelims).
Pritchett paced the squad in the women's 200-yard individual medley, placing second in the event with a school record time of 2:07.21. That time bests the previous school record of 2:07.31 set back in 2015 by former Spartan Mary Katherine Miller. She was one of five Spartans to qualify for the 'A' final of the event, along with sophomore Kelly Moton (third, 2:11.14), senior Olivia Picchione (fourth, 2:12.48), junior Caroline Dudenhoeffer (fifth, 2:14.39) and senior Julia Ver Voort (eighth, 2:13.56 in the prelims).
Other 'A' final finishes for the Spartan women on Thursday included first-year Abby Halsdorfer (first, 5:05.52) and first-year Johanna Pearson (second, 5:07.54) in the 500-yard freestyle and junior Caitlyn VonFeldt (second, 24.23 in the prelims), sophomore Sarah Krueger (fourth, 24.52) and sophomore Daniella Rupert (eighth, 24.87 in the prelims) in the 50-yard freestyle.
In addition, the women's 400-yard medley relay team of VonFeldt, Moton, Rupert and sophomore Anna Smith placed first in the event with a time of 3:54.54, while the women's 200-yard freestyle relay of Pritchett, VonFeldt, Krueger and Rupert finished second in the event with a mark of 1:36.10.
For the men, CWRU sophomore Will Backer earned a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:45.60. He was one of four Spartans to qualify for the 'A' final of the event, along with first-year Justin Christensen (third, 4:45.73), first-year Xander Guerrero (fifth, 4:47.94) and first-year Connor Chignell (seventh, 4:48.60 in the prelims).
Other 'A' final finishers for the Spartan men on Thursday included junior Will McDonald (third, 1:54.92), junior Sean Twomey (fifth, 1:55.27 in the prelims) and first-year Patrick Cavanaugh (sixth, 1:56.45) in the 200-yard individual medley.
In addition, the Spartan men also had first-place finishes in both of the relays during the first day of the meet, with Tecson, Gilbert, Bryant and Andrew Smith finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:23.78. The 400-yard medley relay team of McDonald, Tecson, Cavanaugh and first-year Anatole Borisov then added a first-place finish with a time of 3:26.76.
Action at the meet will resume on Friday in Wooster, Ohio, with the preliminaries starting at 10:00 a.m., and finals slated to follow at 6:00 p.m.
