Members of the Case Western Reserve University men's and women's swimming teams set four school records on the first day of the Spartan Invitational held at the Veale Natatorium in Cleveland on Friday.
To start the evening session, the 200 Free Relay of senior Gabriella Chambers, junior Eliza Dixon, senior Simone Vale, and junior Claire Kozma set a program record with a time of 1:33.20, besting the previous record of 1:33.85 from this season's conference championship. To lead off the relay, Chambers swam the 50 Free in 23.31 seconds, besting the previous record of 23.42 seconds set by herself against Kenyon and Suhan Mestha at the 2018 Wooster Invite. To end the day, the 400 Free Relay of Kozma, Chambers, and seniors Angeli Paull and Kate Menzer broke their previous record in the race of 3:27.12 with a mark of 3:25.75. All three records were also NCAA B cut times.
For the men's team, junior Emil LaSida bested his own school record in the 50 Free from the 2024 conference championships, recording a time of 20.19 seconds in a time trial. The mark was also an NCAA B cut and pool record.
Vale, Menzer, Kozma, and Chambers combined for a time of 1:46.34 in the 200 Medley Relay, Kozma added a time of 5:04.40 in the 500 Free, and Menzer won the 200 IM in 2:06.35.
Adding event wins for the Spartan women's swimming team were senior Nara Lee (100 Fly, 58.12) and sophomore Maggie Rose Rook (200 Free, 1:55.82).
Senior Peter Meng set a pool record and recorded an NCAA B cut time in the 400 IM with a mark of 3:56.01. Meng joined junior John Drumm and seniors Griffin Gushman and Jadon Wyant for the 200 Free Relay finishing the race in 1:28.40.
Junior Joshua Hernandez won a pair of events, placing first in the 200 IM in 1:54.18 and the 200 Free in 1:43.16. Juniors Enzo Wood (500 Free, 4:43.02) and Zach Halsey (50 Back, 23.33) also placed first for CWRU. In butterfly events, senior Ben Zuo recorded times of 22.46 seconds (50 Fly) and 49.68 seconds (100 Fly), and in backstroke time trials, senior Zach Toothman had times of 55.35 seconds (100 Back) and 1:54.97 (200 Back).
The two-day meet concludes tomorrow with the morning session scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and the evening session slated to start at 5 p.m.
Spartan Notes
- The time in the women's 200 Free Relay ranks seventh in Division III following the meet, and the time in the 400 Free Relay is 11th best in the country
- Chambers' time in 50 Free is tied for 15th-best in the country, while LaSida's mark in the same event ranks 18th
