Swimming: West Virginia Completes Day One
January 23, 2009 09:55 PM | General
By Grant Dovey for MSNsportsNET.com
January 23, 2009
Men's Swimming & Diving |
||||||||
| Meet Results | ||||||||
| Summary | ||||||||
|
||||||||
| First Place Finishes | ||||||||
| Michael Walker | 200 IM | 1:50.91 | ||||||
| Michael Walker George Farquhar Pablo Marmolejo Payton Brooks |
400 medley relay |
3:22.24 | ||||||
| Top WVU Swimmers | ||||||||
|
||||||||
Notre Dame, Ind. - After one day of action in the Shamrock Invitational, both the men’s and women’s West Virginia swimming and diving teams are 2-1 in dual meet action.
"As a team we made a commitment to swim without putting on the suits," says Coach Vic Riggs. "Even though other teams chose too, I think we competed very well."
The men’s squad currently holds leads over Denver (60-49) and Michigan State (58-51), while they are trailing Notre Dame (70-40). The men were led by seniors Michael Walker, Pablo Marmolejo and Payton Brooks, along with junior George Farquhar.
In the 200 IM, Walker and Marmolejo finished first (1:50.91) and second (1:51.49), respectively. This is the second straight meet with the duo finishing one-two in the event as they finished in the same order at Pitt.
Brooks and Farquhar, along with freshman Taylor Camp and Brad Eichenseer, started the men’s team off with a second-place (1:24.53) finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Eichenseer also swam in the 50 freestyle where he placed sixth (21.33).
The final men’s event of the day saw West Virginia take first (3:22.24) in the 400 medley relay on a combined effort by Walker, Farquhar, Marmolejo and Brooks.
The women’s team is in a similar scenario as the men’s with leads over Denver (54-46) and Michigan State (61-48) and behind Notre Dame (81-28). Senior Isabel Perez and juniors Kayla Andrews, Morgan Callaway and Stephanie Shupe helped the Mountaineers score points Friday evening.
A 200 yard freestyle relay team made up of Sarah Kosmak, Shupe, Shaunna Purtell and Andrews swam to a second-place (1:35.63) finish to start the women's night. Andrews also swam in the 50 freestyle where she finished in second (23.18) as well.
In the 500 freestyle, Callaway who has already recorded a NCAA “B” cut time, finished in second place (4:55.40) with Lindsey Largo placing eighth (4:59.11).
The women ended the night with a second-place (3:50.80) finish in the 400 medley relay on efforts from Callaway, Perez, Shupe and Andrews. Perez also raced in the 200 IM, where she came in seventh (2:08.00).
Anytime you can beat your competition when they have an advantage says a lot about who we are," Riggs says. "We had a lot of in-season best times and we are racing smarter. Our teams stepped up to the challenge of racing today and we have an excellent chance to come out of the weekend with some wins."
Both West Virginia squads look to continue their strong performances when the second day of the Shamrock Invitational gets underway with the first session beginning at 10 a.m. and the third and final session at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Rolfs Aquatic Center.
