In their final swims before the NCAA Championships, members of the Case Western Reserve University swimming and diving teams set four school records and recorded six B cut times at the two-day Midwest Invitational at the Myers-McLoraine Pool in Chicago on Friday and Saturday.
The 400-yard Medley Relay of first-year Emil LaSida, junior Ethan Chuang, first-year John Drumm, and senior Andrew Smith set the school record in the event twice during the weekend. On Sunday during a time trial, the relay recorded a time of 3:18.48, the 16th-fastest time in Division III this season, bettering the quartet's mark from Saturday of 3:18.89. Both times best the previous record of 3:20.47 swam by LaSida, Chuang, sophomore Jackson Pollard, and first-year Mason Bencurik at the University Athletic Association Championships last week. To lead off the relay, LaSida twice improved upon his own school record in the 100 Back, lowering the mark from 50.34 seconds to 49.22 seconds in the time trial. Both LaSida and the relay recorded a B cut time.
The 200 Medley Relay of LaSida, Chuang, sophomore Ben Zuo, and senior Campbell Patterson set a school record as well, finishing a time trial in 1:30.15, the 21st-best time in Division III this season. The Saturday relay bested the previous record of 1:30.22, swam by LaSida, Chuang, Pollard, and Patterson at the 2022 Magnus Cup Invite and recorded an NCAA B cut time.
Individually, Smith added a school record in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing a time trial in 45.84 seconds. The previous record was held by Bencurik, who completed the event in 45.87 seconds at the 2022 Magnus Cup. In addition, Drumm recorded a B cut in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:49.42.
For the women's team, both the 200 and 400 Free Relays recorded NCAA B cuts. The 200 Free Relay of first-year Claire Kozma, first-year Eliza Dixon, sophomore Kate Menzer, and sophomore Gabriella Chambers finished a time trial in 1:35.07, and the 400 Free Relay of Kozma, Dixon, Chambers, and sophomore Angeli Paull recorded a time of 3:28.94 to place second in the event.
Overall, the Spartan women's team placed first out of six teams at the invitational with 608 points, and the men's team placed second out of five teams with 661 points, trailing only host Chicago who had 739 points.
In the 1650 Free, sophomores Michael Butler and Jadon Wyant placed second and third, recording times of 16:17.70 and 16:28.69, respectively. A trio of Spartans added third place finishes, including first-year Joshua Hernandez (400 IM, 4:07.72), first-year Adam Khatib (200 Fly, 1:52.21), and first-year Erik Watka (500 Free, 4:42.97).
First-year Megha Siddapureddy recorded two top three finishes, placing first in the 200 Fly in 2:10.96 and third in the 100 Fly in 58.44 seconds. First-year Kailyn Smith added a third place finish in the 200 Fly with a time of 2:13.02.
A pair of Spartans—Menzer and senior Abby Halsdorfer—finished as runners-up in events. Menzer placed second in the 400 IM in 4:41.93, and Halsdorfer was the second to touch the wall in the 200 IM, recording a time of 2:09.53.
Sophomore Simone Vale (100 Back, 59.69 seconds) and first-year Lauren Valentine (200 Back, 2:11.98) each placed third in an event.
The CWRU swimmers will now await possible selection to the 2023 NCAA Championships. Qualifying swimmers will be announced by the NCAA on Wednesday, February 22, no later than 8 p.m. in a release on ncaa.com. Select Spartan divers will compete at the NCAA Diving Regional on Friday, February 24 and Saturday, February 25 to attempt to qualify for the national meet.
