The Case Western Reserve University men's and women's swimming teams set three school records on the second and final day of the Spartan Invitational on Saturday at Veale Natatorium in Cleveland.
Junior Emil LaSida set a pair of school and pool records to lead off relays. He started the 400 Free Relay with a 100 Free time of 44.92 seconds, besting his previous school record of 45.02 seconds and the pool record of 45.13 seconds from Chicago's Matthew Veldman in 2014. The relay, which consisted of LaSida and juniors Mason Bencurik, William Froass, and John Drumm, finished in a pool record time of 3:01.54, besting the previous record of 3:02.49 from Emory in 2012. LaSida also led off the 200 Free Relay with a 50 Free time of 20.05 seconds, besting his own program record of 20.36 seconds and the pool-best time of 20.42 seconds swam by Thomas Meek from Chicago in 2014. Both times from LaSida were NCAA B cuts.
Senior Gabriella Chambers recorded an NCAA B cut, school record, and pool record with a time of 50.80 seconds in the evening session of the 100 Free. She bested the school record of 50.89 seconds set by Lauren Preyss in 2007 and the pool record of 51.16 seconds set by Chicago's Maya Scheidl in 2014.
Seniors Jiro Batt and Ben Zuo competed in three events each. Batt placed first in the 200 Fly in 1:52.71 and swam the 100 Breast time trial in 57.36 seconds. Zuo touched the wall first in the 50 Breast at 26.34 seconds and added a time of 21.12 seconds in the 50 Free time trial. The duo was joined by senior Paul Racanelli and first-year Chris Leuciuc for the 800 Free Relay, which finished in 7:53.13. Individually, Leuciuc was the first to finish in the 100 IM in 52.77 seconds.
Senior Kate Menzer recorded times of 1:06.00 in the 100 Breast and 2:06.04 in the 200 IM, placing first in the former race, and senior Zach Toothman added times of 1:59.16 in the 200 Back event and 26.94 seconds in the 50 Breast time trial. Also competing in a time trial was sophomore Michael Boelens, who swam the 200 Back in 1:56.59.
Juniors Megha Siddapureddy (200 Fly, 2:15.11), Eliza Dixon (50 Fly, 26.25 seconds), and Kate Trembly (200 Back, 2:12.99) added first place finishes for the CWRU women's swimming team. In breaststroke events, senior Madison McDaniels placed first in the 50 Breast in 31.45 seconds, and sophomore Lillian Paley added a time of 2:26.29 in the 200 Breast.
For the men's team, junior Ben Borvendeg won the 50 Fly in 23.18 seconds, junior Spencer Ahten placed first in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:08.87, and first-year Vladimir Shibalov was the first finisher in the 1650 Free at 17:04.15.
The CWRU swimmers will await the selections of the NCAA Division III Championship field, which will be announced by the NCAA on Wednesday, February 26 at 10 a.m. The Spartan divers will next compete at the NCAA Diving Regional on February 28 and March 1 in Granville, Ohio, on the campus of Denison University.
Spartan Notes
- The CWRU women's team set four school records and the Spartan men's team recorded three sechool records at the two-day meet
- Senior Abigail Wilkov set pool records in the 1-meter (476.78) and 3-meter (498.30) dives. Senior Nico Billoni added a pool record in the 3-meter dive (435.38) and sophomore Jack Rudofsky set the pool record in the 1-meter dive (416.70)
- Chambers' time in the 100 Free is tied for 17th-best in Division III
- LaSida recorded the ninth-fastest time in the 50 Free in Division III
