Malarie Schmidt broke the Miami and Mid-American Conference (MAC) record in the 100-yard backstroke and Allison Stevens bettered the Miami 200-yard freestyle record she set last season as the RedHawk women recorded 44 qualifying performances at Friday's morning session of the Miami Invitational.
Schmidt became the second record-breaker of the day when she broke the Miami and MAC record for the 100-yard backstroke with her second-place qualifying time of :55.25. The previous school record was set by Camilla Johnson at :56.01 in 1994. Kasey Carpenter, Nicole Roddenbery, Tenley Marsteller, Alyson Schmidt, Jennifer Nemeth, and Anne Golembeski will also swim in the 100 finals for the RedHawks. Oakland's Agnieszka Solan was the top qualifier with a meet-record time of :55.10. The previous meet record had stood since 2001.
Earlier in the session, Stevens broke her own school record in the 200-yard freestyle, swimming the top qualifying time of 1:48.78. She had previously set the record at last season's MAC Championship Meet. Alyson Schmidt, Chelsey Bruington, ALISON WAY, Maggie French, Carly Gibson, Sarah Radke, Lauren Wallace, Carpenter, and Nemeth will also compete in the 200 free finals for Miami.
Miami's Malarie Schmidt turned in the top qualifying time in the 200-yard butterfly, while Way, Taylor Koplow, Kelsey Mallon, Katherine Reinmann, and PAIGE IVERSON also advanced to the finals in the 200 fly.
Miami sophomore Kelsey Vehr finished atop the field in the qualifying heats for the 100-yard breaststroke. Megan Brunn, Stevens, Iverson, and CLAIRE FOGERTY also had swims that qualified for the finals in that event.
Illinois' Marissa Clapp claimed the top qualifying time in the 400-yard individual medley. Vehr led the Miami qualifiers, swimming the second-fastest time. Brunn, JENNIFER FLAHERTY, Miranda Kaltenborn, Koplow and Sarah Bullock also turned in times good enough to qualify for the 400 IM finals.
Miami's Alyson Schmidt recorded the fastest prelim swim in the 50-yard freestyle. Nine fellow RedHawks also qualified in the event: Stevens, Malarie Schmidt, Way, Radke, Nemeth, Gibson, Ashley Sohngen, Jenna Long and Jordan Koletic.
The Miami men's swim team recorded 29 qualifying performances during the morning session and was led by Jason Hass, Chris Gunnels, Ryan Neff, Michael Carroll, and DAVE BROWN, who all had multiple swims that qualified them for finals competition.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Oakland's Anders Jensen was the top qualifier (1:49.74). Miami's Hass turned in the fifth-fastest swim to lead the RedHawk qualifiers. Joining Hass in the 200 fly finals will be Scott DuCharme, Brooks Cowan, and Jason Bank.
Miami will send six swimmers to the finals of the 200-yard freestyle. Gunnels led the way for the RedHawks with his ninth-fastest qualifying swim. Lenny Wanta, Brown, Darin Smith, Hass and Brendan Melling will also swim in the 200 finals. Denison's John Geissinger was the top qualifier with a time of 1:39.37.
Andy Kellogg of Oakland was the top qualifier in the 100-yard breaststroke (:56.01). Miami will be represented by Carroll, Bank, Davis Mello, Austin Kosier, and Ryan Neff in the finals of this event.
Oakland's Jensen turned in his second top qualifying time of the day in the 100-yard backstroke. Five RedHawks will swim in the 100 finals for Miami: Chris Gunnels, MATT GRUBB, TOMMY JANSZEN, Justin Dankovich, and Ryan Neff.
Four Miamians will compete in the finals of the 400-yard individual medley. Smith led the RedHawks with the 13th-fastest qualifying swim and will be joined in the finals by Bank, Carroll, and Trevor Tilly. Cincinnati's Kuba Carda had the top qualifying time of 3:57.53.
Cincinnati's Josh Schneider recorded the top qualifying time in the 50-yard freestyle (:20.02). Brown led the Miami swimmers with the fifth-fastest qualifying time. Mark Healey, Zac Siegel, ANDY NEFF, and John Eick round out the RedHawk qualifiers in the 50 free.
The Miami swimming teams will look to build on their Friday morning results at the Friday night session, consisting of the finals of Friday morning's prelim events. Action is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at the Nixon Aquatic Center.
Three Golden Grizzlies Make NCAA “B” Cuts in Day Two
The Oakland University swimming team continued to make a statement at the Miami Invitational Friday, as three Golden Grizzlies made NCAA "B" cuts in the 100-yard backstroke. Junior Agnes Solan set a new all-time record with a first-place time of 54.29 (also a meet record), junior Marcin Unold swam a first-place time of 47.77, which the second-best in OU history, and freshman Anders Jensen touched the wall with Oakland's third all-time best mark at 47.81, finishing in second.
Solan now has the three fastest times in the 100 back in Oakland history, while Unold and Jensen have three of the top-10 times in the event.
Jensen also swam a record entry time of 1:49.74 in the 200 butterfly, which is the fourth-best in OU history. Senior Aaron Holdsworth now falls right behind him on that list in fifth place with his time of 1:50.15, which is his second mark on the all-time list.
Other men to set records in individual events were Unold, with a second-place time of 20.43 in the 50 freestyle (seventh all-time), senior Andy Kellogg in the 100 breaststroke at 56.35 (eighth all-time)and junior Eddie Toro in the 400 IM set a new all-time record in the 400 individual medley with a time of 3:56.84. In addition, freshman Joe Rodgers' time of 4:02.84 in that event also ranks as 10th in OU history.
For the women, there were two new entries in the 100 breast. Sophomore Emily Wike now ranks sixth all-time with a time of 1:05.16 and freshman Johanna Gustafsson is right behind her in seventh-all time with a mark of 1:05.27.
The 200 fly also produced two new standings in the top-10. Senior Julie Hintermeister now ranks fourth all-time, touching the wall at 2:05.11, and freshman Jackie Hynson is in eighth with a time of 2:06.79.
Both the men's and women's 400 medley relay teams also made entries into the all-time list. The men's team of Jensen, Kellogg, Holdsworth and Unold finished first with a time of 3:16.81, which ranks third all-time for Oakland. For the women, the team of Solan, Wike, senior Sophia Gustafsson and freshman Alyssa Vela finished with a third-place time of 3:48.79, which ranks fifth in the OU record books.
After two days of competition, the men's team is in second place after 22 events with 954.5 points, hot on the heels of first-place Denison University, who has 973 points. The women's team in currently in fourth place with 596 points.
The Golden Grizzlies will conclude meet action Saturday, Dec. 6, with preliminaries starting at 9 a.m. and finals kicking off at 6 p.m.
Eagles First After Day One of Miami Invitational
The 800-yard freestyle relay team set a new entry in the FGCU record books and freshman Rosy Murray set a new freshman record in the 1650-yard freestyle as the Eagles swimming and diving team got off to a great start after four events at the Miami Invitational Thursday.
The 800 free relay team of freshman Vicky Cadge (Long Melford, United Kingdom), junior Margie Chamberlin (Land O' Lakes, Fla.), freshman Rosy Murray (Waterlooville, United Kingdom), and freshman Leah Daniel (Winnipeg, Canada) swam a second-place time of 7:26.31, which ranks first all-time in FGCU history.
The Lady Eagles also set some season-best marks of their own. Rosy Murray earned a first-place finish in the 1650 free with a time of 17:12.89, setting school freshman record. Leah Daniel finished second with a time of 16:59.54.
The meet continued Friday morning, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m. for the preliminaries and 6 p.m. for the event finals.
