By Nicholas Morenao
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The Iowa men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams went to Columbus, Ohio this past weekend to compete in the Ohio State Invitational. The Hawkeyes faced some tough competition but finished with some good results after the weekend’s competition.
On the first day of competition, the men’s team finished fourth with 134 points, and the women’s finished fifth with 84.
The women’s quartet of senior Emma Sougstad, freshman Hannah Burvill, junior Mekenna Scheitlin, and freshman Allyssa Fluit finished in fifth in the 200-free relay with a time of 1:31.73, the fourth-fastest time in program history.
The men also had a strong finish in the 200-free relay. The quartet of freshman Will Scott, sophomores Jack Smith and Matt Kamin, and senior Jackson Halsmer finished at 1:19.63, the fastest time for the men this year.
Individually, three men finished in the top-10 of the men’s 50 free. In the NCAA B, Smith came in fourth place with a qualifying time of 20:04, Scott (20:30) in seventh, and Kamin (20:54) in 10th.
Both the men and women finished in sixth place in the 400-medley relay. The men’s quartet of freshman Weston Credit, sophomores Kenneth Mende and Smith, and junior Jerzy Twarowski finished at 3:16.11. The women’s team consisted of Burvill, Sougstad, and juniors Meghan Lavelle, and Tereysa Lehnertz — they finished at 3:37.91.
In diving on the men’s side, sophomore Will Brenner finished with a ninth-place performance in the 1-meter (304.95).
Saturday, Nov. 19
The Hawkeyes had some success on the first day of the invitational but they did even better on the second day. The Hawkeyes broke some school records and had 14 top-10 finishes.
Sougstad has had a strong start to the season — she broke the school record in the preliminaries for the 100 fly with a time of 53.74; on Nov. 19, she broke her record with a time of 53.30 and finished third. In the 100 breast, she finished in third at 1:00.03.
The senior didn’t stop there when it came to breaking records. Sougstad, Lavelle, Scheitlin, and Burvill broke another Iowa record in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:39.15.
One of the women’s team top events on the second day of the invitational was the 100 fly. Scheitlin was the winner of the B final in an NCAA B-cut 54.13 and Lehnertz placed in seventh in the B-cut at 54.13. Sophomore Kelly McNamara finished in 17th (54.69), and freshman Amy Lenderink finished in 20th (55.57). The winner of the C final was junior Carly O’Brien with a time of 55.10.
For the men, they had seven top-10 finishes. In the 100 back, Kenneth Mende had a season-best time in the NCAA B standard time of 48.46, seventh best. In the C final, freshman Forrest White (50.71) and John Colin (50.82) finished first and third. Juniors Thomas Rathbun (50.92) and Colter Allen (50.94) finished third and fourth.
Nov. 20
On the final day of the invitational, the Hawkeyes finished with 10 top-10 finishes. The men ended the invitational in fifth with 375.5 points, and the women also finished in fifth with 375 points.
In the A final, Burvill finished in fifth place in the 100 free (49.71). In the B final, Fluit finished in second in the 100 free.
For the men in the 100 free, Smith finished with a season-best 44.53, which placed him in seventh. Kamin finished in 10th at 45.17.
In the 400-free relay, the quartet of Kamin, Smith, Scott and Halsmer finished fifth at 2:58.43, the Hawkeyes’ fastest time this season.
The women will not compete for another 18 days, when they host Iowa State in the Campus Rercreation & Wellness Center Natatorium for the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series. The men have an even longer break; they won’t compete until Jan. 12-13, when where they will head to South Bend, Indiana, to face Notre Dame and Illinois.
