A small squad of Case Western Reserve University swimmers finished competition on Saturday at the two-day Midwest Invitational, hosted by the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.
The Spartan women in action totaled 435.5 points to help the team finish third, while the CWRU men combined for 195 points for a sixth-place finish.
Two school records were broken on Saturday by the women, as the 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior Suhan Mestha, sophomore Caitlyn VonFeldt, freshman Daniella Rupert and senior Renee Decker finished first in the event with a new school record and NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:34.95. That time bests the previous record of 1:35.37 set last weekend at the UAA Championships. Mestha and VonFeldt also teamed with senior Alexa Simoneau and freshman Anna Smith in the 400-yard medley relay to finish first in the event with a school record and 'B' cut time of 3:50.41. That time bests the previous record of 3:51.72 that was set last weekend as well.
Mestha, VonFeldt and Smith also teamed with senior Alli Drohosky in the 200-yard medley relay to finish first with a NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:44.73.
The women's 800-yard freestyle relay team of juniors Aleah Hixenbaugh and Victoria Schoenig, sophomore Sophia Vaccaro and freshman C.J. Hill also added a first-place finish with a time of 8:18.64. In addition, the women's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Schoenig, Vaccaro, junior Rhiannon Reese and freshman Emili Toppari finished third with a time of 3:45.91.
Junior Elizabeth Ye and freshman Kelly Moton each totaled two top-five finishes in their respective events during the invite. Ye finished fourth in the 200-yard breastroke (2:30.20) and fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.60), while Moton placed fourth in the 200-yard individual medley (2:12.67) and third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.36).
For the men, senior Keith Erichsen, junior Eli Rose, freshman Seth Brown and freshman Mathias Hostetler teamed together in the 400-yard medley relay to finish third with a time of 3:51.99.
Erichsen and Brown also teamed with sophomores Nathan Callithen and Chris Lemley in the 200-yard medley relay to finish fifth with a time of 1:40.17. The men's 400-yard freestyle relay of Erichsen, Lemley, Hostetler and senior Vinicius Okada da Silva also added a fifth-place finish in the event with a time of 3:21.82.
Case Western Reserve will now turn their attention towards the NCAA Division III Championships. Swimming selection to the NCAA Championships are slated to be released on Wednesday, February 27th at 10:00 a.m., while NCAA Diving Regionals are scheduled for Friday, March 1st and Saturday March 2nd.
