Both first-year swimmer John Drumm of the Case Western Reserve University men's swimming and diving team and the CWRU women's swimming and diving team 400-yard freestyle relay of first-years Claire Kozma and Eliza Dixon and sophomores Angeli Paull and Gabriella Chambers set school records on the final day of the 2023 University Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships at the Woodruff P.E. Center on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta on Saturday.
Drumm broke the program record in the 200-yard butterfly, recording a time of 1:49.36. Former Spartan Aaron Tam previously set the record of 1:49.76 at the 2016 UAA Championships. Drumm, who finished fifth in the championship final, also recorded an NCAA B cut time. Senior Andrew Smith placed 21st in the event with a C Final time of 1:53.05, and sophomore Kevin Hu placed 22nd with a C Final time of 1:53.61.
The 400 Free Relay bested the previous record of 3:28.84, set by former Spartans Suhan Mestha, Caitlyn VonFeldt, Vanya Ruppart, and Inez Moore at the 2018 UAA Championships, with a time of 3:28.67 in the event. The relay placed fifth and recorded an NCAA B cut time.
Overall, both the CWRU men's and women's teams finished sixth in the conference with the men's team earning 627 points and the women's team earning 794 points. Both the men's and women's teams from Emory won their 24th consecutive conference championship, with the men's team finishing with 1,748 points and the women's team finishing with 1,872 points.
Sophomore Griffin Gushman recorded the third NCAA B cut of the day for CWRU, finishing the 1,650-yard freestyle in 16:12.62. He placed 16th in the race. Also earning points in the event for the Spartans were sophomore Stephen Hogeman, who placed 22nd with a time of 16:26.78, and junior Sean Yetter, who placed 23rd with a time of 16:27.08.
Sophomore Abigail Wilkov placed fifth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 417.55 in the finals, tying her for the best individual finish by a Spartan on the final day of competition. She qualified for the finals with the sixth-best score in the preliminary round, 426.45. Junior Rei Miyauchi placed 12th in the event with a prelims score of 381.35, and sophomore Jocelyn Schechter recorded a mark of 379.05 in the prelims to place 14th.
Earlier in the day, Chambers and Kozma competed in the 100 Free, with Chambers placing 11th and Kozma finishing 16th. After recording the 15th-fastest time in the prelims, Chambers cut 0.41 seconds off her time to finish the B Final in 52.05 seconds. Kozma had the 12th-fastest time in prelims, 52.16 seconds, and touched the wall in the B Final at 52.56.
Five Spartans earned points in the 1650 Free, led by a 12th place finish from senior Abby Halsdorfer in 17:44.60. Senior Johanna Pearson finished next with a time of 17:53.56, and sophomore Selah Dean placed 14th after touching the wall at 18:06.27. Rounding out the finishers were first-year Allison Ploutz-Snyder (20th in 18:40.71) and sophomore Adriana Kamor (21st in 18:56.26).
Dean added a 15th place finish in the 200 Fly, completing the B Final in 2:11.77 after recording a time of 2:11.31 in the prelims. Ploutz-Snyder and sophomores Kate Menzer and Erin Quinlan competed in the C Final of the event, with Menzer finishing 18th in 2:11.30, Ploutz-Snyder placing 20th in 2:12.56, and Quinlan finishing 22nd in 2:14.47.
Sophomore Amelia Myhrvold placed 16th in the 200-yard backstroke after recording a prelims time of 2:04.74, the 13th-fastest in the morning session. First-year Kate Trembly and senior Maria Pritchett swam in the C Final, with Trembly finishing 20th in 2:06.03 and Pritchett finishing 21st in 2:06.10.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, junior Emma Guarnieri placed 24th with a time of 2:26.67 in the C Final.
For the men's team, junior Ethan Chuang placed 13th in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:04.64 in the B Final. Sophomore Jiro Batt and junior Hunter Forsythe reached the C Final, with Batt finishing 19th in 2:05.32 and Forsythe placing 21st in 2:06.00.
Both senior Connor Chignell and first-year William Froass earned spots in the C Final of the 200 Back. Chignell placed 18th with a time of 1:52.12, 0.38 seconds faster than his prelims time, and Froass finished directly behind him with a finals time of 1:52.21.
In the 100 Free, senior Campbell Patterson placed 22nd after finishing the C Final in 46.48 seconds. First-year Mason Bencurik also swam in the C Final, touching the wall at 46.94 to place 24th. Bencurik, Patterson, Drumm, and Smith were members of the sixth place 400 Free Relay that recorded a time of 3:02.79.
Following a week off, Spartan swimmers will have one final chance to improve their times for possible selection to the 2023 NCAA Championships when they travel to Chicago for the Midwest Invitational hosted by the University of Chicago on February 17 and 18. In addition, three CWRU women's divers qualified for the NCAA Diving Zone Regional which will take place on February 24 and 25 in Chicago.
