Case Western Reserve University totaled six first-place finishes and two NCAA 'B' cut times during the final day of competition at the Wooster Invitational, propelling both the men's and women's squad's to first-place finishes at the meet.
The men won the meet for the 10th-straight season, totaling 2,496 points to finish 1,026 points ahead of second-place Mount Union (1,470). Wooster finished in third place among the six squads with 1,113 points.
CWRU's women dominated the seven-team field with 2,063 points, finishing well-ahead of second-place Wooster (1,539.5) and third-place Edinboro (1,379.5). It marked the squad's fifth-straight first-place finish at the meet.
First-year Johanna Pearson and first-year Abby Halsdorfer each led the women on Saturday, as both notched 'B' cut times in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Pearson won the event with a time of 17:22.19, and Halsdorfer finished in second with a time of 17:33.06. Sophomore Kate Ptashnik earned a sixth-place finish in the event with a time of 18:35.65.
Junior Caitlyn VonFeldt claimed the title in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:03.68. First-year Maria Pritchett placed second in the event with a time of 2:07.11, Pearson finished third with a time of 2:09.44 and first-year Elizabeth McDyer placed sixth with a time of 2:11.03.
The women's 400-yard freestyle relay team of VonFeldt, Pritchett, sophomore Sarah Krueger and sophomore Anna Smith earned a second-place finish, as they finished the event with a time of 3:33.81.
The Spartan women were also strong in the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard breaststroke, finishing with four 'A' final finishers in the 200-yard fly and three 'A' final finishers in the 200-yard breast. The 200-yard butterfly 'A' final finishers were senior Olivia Picchione (first, 2:10.63 in the prelims), sophomore C.J. Hill (third, 2:13.32), first-year Laila Michel (fifth, 2:15.82) and senior Rhiannon Reese (sixth, 2:16.13 in the prelims. The 200-yard breaststroke 'A' final finishers were junior Caroline Dudenhoeffer (fourth, 2:28.62), sophomore Kelly Moton (fifth, 2:27.16 in the prelims) and senior Sarah Taekman (sixth, 2:27.13 in the prelims).
Other top finishers for the women were senior Julia Ver Voort (tied for second, 1:01.22 in the prelims) in the 100-yard individual medley and Krueger (third, 53.31) in the 100-yard freestyle.
Also for the Spartan women, sophomore Hailey Seibert added a second-place finish in the three-meter dive with a score of 330.95.
For the men, junior Will McDonald led the Spartans in the 200-yard backstroke as he placed first with a time of 1:51.23. Other 'A' final finishers in the 200-yard back were sophomore Ryan Gilbert (second, 1:52.05), first-year Connor Chignell (sixth, 1:54.38), junior Dakota Weinman (seventh, 1:54.48 in the prelims) and sophomore Kelvin Tay (eighth, 1:55.60 in the prelims).
The men's 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Calvin Tecson, sophomore Neil Wible, first-year Will Bryant and first-year Anatole Borisov also earned a first-place finish, as they won the event with a time of 3:04.96.
Other top finishers for the Spartan men on Saturday included first-year Andrew Smith (first, 1:51.12), sophomore Michael Clough (third, 1:53.36 in the prelims), junior Jakob Woerner (fourth, 1:55.38) and junior Kyle Barclay (fifth, 1:55.96 in the 200-yard butterfly, and first-year Xander Guerrero (second, 16:42.05), sophomore Ryan Gorman (fourth, 16:44.23), first-year Justin Christensen (fifth, 16:53.58) and sophomore Will Backer (sixth, 17:01.54) in the 1,650-year freestyle.
In addition, the Spartan men had four 'A' final finishers in the 100-yard freestyle and three in the 200-yard breaststroke. The 'A' final finishers in the 100-yard free were Wible (third, 46.50), Borisov (fourth, 47.13 in the prelims), Bryant (sixth, 47.30) and sophomore Nicholas Schoenig (eighth, 47.61 in the prelims). The 'A' final finishers in the 200-yard breast were junior Sean Twomey (second, 2:06.71), first-year Patrick Cavanaugh (fifth, 2:08.33 in the prelims) and Gorman (eighth, 2:10.15 in the prelims).
The Spartans will be off from collegiate competition for over a month, before opening the 2020 portion of the schedule on January 18th, as they face SUNY-Geneseo.
