Junior Peter Meng of the Case Western Reserve University men's swimming and diving team earned the first All-University Athletic Association honor for a Spartan swimmer in six years on Friday, the third day of the 2024 UAA Championships, at the Myers-McLoraine Pool inside the Ratner Athletic Center in Chicago.
Meng placed second in the 400 IM with a school record and NCAA B Cut time of 3:53.90, besting his previous record of 3:53.99 set in the preliminary race earlier in the day. With the second-place finish, he earned the first All-UAA honor for a Spartan since Colin Hamilton placed third in the same event at the 2018 conference championships, and matched Hamilton's best-ever finish in the event from 2016.
In the C Final of the event, sophomore Joshua Hernandez placed 24th with a time of 4:10.86 after recording a prelims time of 4:06.54.
To end the night, the CWRU 200 Medley Relay of sophomore Emil LaSida, senior Ethan Chuang, and sophomores William Froass and Mason Bencurik set a program record with a time of 1:29.64, besting the previous record of 1:29.66 swam by LaSida, Chuang, Bencurik, and junior Ben Zuo at the 2023 Total Performance Invite. The relay, which placed sixth in the race, earned an NCAA B Cut time, the seventh of the championships for Case Western Reserve. The Spartans have totaled eight school records across the three days of competition in Chicago.
Individually, Chuang placed 10th in the 100 Breast with a B Final time of 55.77 seconds after recording a time of 55.65 seconds in the prelims. Zuo placed 15th in 56.15 seconds, and junior Jiro Batt placed 21st with a time of 57.02 seconds in the C Final.
In the 200 Free, Bencurik qualified for the B Final and placed 12th with a time of 1:40.45.
LaSida added a 13th-place finish in the 100 Back, touching the wall at exactly 50.00 seconds in the B Final. Three Spartans qualified for the C Final with first-year Michael Boelens placing 19th in 51.49 seconds, junior Jace Creech placing 20th in 51.56 seconds, and Froass finishing 24th in 56.08 seconds after recording a time of 52.21 seconds in the prelims.
Froass added a 21st-place finish in the 100 Fly, touching the wall at 50.49 seconds in the C Final. Junior Jackson Pollard reached the B Final and placed 14th with a time of 49.97 seconds. Also in the C Final, sophomore John Drumm placed 18th in 50.14 seconds, and sophomore Adam Khatib placed 23rd in 51.03 seconds.
Case Western Reserve ranks sixth in the conference standings with 534.50 points with one day of competition remaining, trailing first place Emory, who has 1,188 points.
The UAA Championships conclude on Saturday with the 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 1650 Free, 400 Free Relay, and the men's 1-meter dive. Swimming prelims will start at 11 a.m. ET with finals scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and diving prelims will begin at 1:45 p.m. ET with finals scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
