Sophomore swimmer Ethan Chuang set a school record in the 100-yard breaststroke and broke a school record with the men's 200-yard medley relay team, highlighting performances from the Case Western Reserve University swimming and diving teams on day three of the 2022 University Athletic Association Championships hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Chuang finished fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke final with a new school-record time of 55.07 seconds, which is also an NCAA 'B' cut time. He initially broke his own record of 55.77 seconds, set earlier this season at the Magnus Cup Invitational, in the preliminary round with a time of 55.55 seconds.
The men's 200-yard medley relay team, consisting of Chuang and junior swimmers Connor Chignell, Anatole Borisov, and Campbell Patterson, set a new school record with a time of 1:31.10. The time beats the previous record of 1:31.77 set at the 2020 UAA Championships. The Spartans finished fifth in the event. The 800-yard freestyle relay team finished sixth. Borisov notched a 13th place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a 50.21 second time in the finals, while Chignell finished 14th in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.71 seconds.
First-year swimmer Peter Meng recorded an NCAA 'B' cut time in the prelims of the 400-yard individual medley, finishing in 3:59.83. He finished 13th in the event, recording a time of 4:00.77 in the 'B' final. Meng teamed up with junior swimmers Xander Guerrero and Andrew Smith and first-year swimmer Stephen Hogeman in the 800-yard freestyle relay to finish sixth with a time of 6:47.56.
In the women's three-meter dive, first-year diver Abigail Wilkov recorded an NCAA 'B' cut mark with a score of 419.95 in the prelims. She finished in seventh place in the event with a mark of 385.30 in the final.
The Spartans placed three other swimmers in the men's 100 Back event with senior swimmer Ryan Gilbert placing 18th with a time of 52.55 seconds in the final, senior swimmer Kelvin Tay placing 20th with a time of 52.84 seconds in the final, and senior swimmer Michael Clough placing 22nd with a time of 53.11 seconds in the final. CWRU also placed three swimmers in the 100 Fly event with first-year Jackson Pollard placing 19th with a finals time of 50.20 seconds, first-year Ben Zuo placing 22nd with a finals time of 50.99 seconds, and junior Andrew Smith placing 23rd with a finals time of 51.07 seconds. Wrapping up the top finishes was first-year swimmer Kevin Hu, who placed 23rd in the 400-yard IM with a finals time of 4:06.65.
The women's 200-yard medley relay team, with first-year swimmers Erica Rice, Caroline Schlessman, Kate Menzer, and Gabriella Chambers, finished fifth with a time of 1:47.04. Chambers teamed up with first-year swimmers Isabel Verheyen and Angeli Paull and junior swimmer Abby Halsdorfer to place sixth in the 800-yard freestyle relay event with a time of 7:42.31.
Individually, Verheyen placed 12th in 400 IM with a time of 4:32.68, Halsdorfer placed 14th in the same event in 4:34.12, and Rice placed 13th in the 100-yard backstroke in 57.28 seconds. Senior swimmer Anna Smith took 11th place in the 100 Fly with a time of 56.92 seconds, while Menzer tied for 21st place in the same event with a 58.17-second time in the finals. Paull placed 20th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.48, and Schlessman was one of five Spartan finishers in the top-24 in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing 17th in 1:07.05. In that event, first-year swimmer Madison McDaniels placed 18th (1:07.95 finals time), first-year swimmer Ally Solomon placed 19th (1:07.97), senior swimmer Kelly Moton placed 22nd (1:09.90), and first-year swimmer Ellie Snyder placed 23rd (1:10.65). Finishing off the top placing Spartan swimmers, first-year swimmer Elishka Bailey took 22nd in the 400 IM with a mark of 4:42.83 in the finals.
The 20th-ranked Spartan women's swimming and diving team is in sixth place after three days of competition with 496.5 points, while the 17th-ranked men's swimming and diving team is in sixth place after two days of competition with 430 points.
The UAA Championships conclude on Saturday. Events on Day 4 include the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 1650-yard freestyle, and men's one-meter dive. Swimming prelims start at 10:00 a.m. with finals following at 6:00 p.m., while diving prelims begin at 12:45 p.m. with finals at 5:30 p.m.
