Swimming: West Virginia Sits in Third Place
December 04, 2009 10:13 PM | General
By Grant Dovey for MSNsportsNET.com
December 4, 2009
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| Kayla Andrews |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Ohio State Invitational started on Friday with both the West Virginia men’s and women’s swimming teams having standout performances. After one full day of action, both squads sit at third place.
The Mountaineer men notched 127 points, only trailing Ohio State (414 points) and Minnesota (227) in the six-team field, while the women finished the day with 153.53 points, behind Minnesota (365) and Ohio State (203) in their six-team field.
The 200 free relay team of George Farquhar, Hugh Simmonds, Taylor Camp and Brad Eichenseer started the men off with a third-place finish in the finals with a time of 1:21.71.
Jared Goldthorpe then placed second in the 500 free with a time of 4:22.13. Goldthorpe’s preliminary round time of 4:21.62 broke the school record for that event and both times were also NCAA “B” cuts. Simmonds also swam the 500 free finishing in 16th place in 4:34.95.
Farquhar scored the only points in the 200 IM for the men with his 13th-place finish. Farquhar touched the wall in a time of 1:52.35.
In the 50 free, Eichenseer finished with a time of 20.56 for ninth place.
The men then closed the day with a fifth-place finish and NCAA “B” cut time of 3:16.88 in the 400 medley relay. Goldthorpe, Farquhar, Camp and Eichenseer made up the team. Teammates Tim Field, Jack Greenhalgh, Martin Vanis and Simmonds also finished in ninth place in 3:23.41.
For the women, the 200 free relay opened the night with a second-place finish, while recording an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:32.55. Shaunna Purtell, Sarah Kosmak, Stephanie Shupe and Kayla Andrews made up the foursome. Sara Conner, Nikki Vetterlein, Sloan Storie and Maggie Moreland also scored points in the event with their 14th-place finish in 1:39.67.
Rachael Burnett scored an NCAA “B” cut time of 4:46.64, good enough for fourth place in the 500 free. Morgan Callaway also earned an NCAA “B” cut time with her seventh-place finish in 4:48.17. Robyn Matthews also scored points in the event finishing in 14th place in 4:54.92.
Breanna McCann recorded the only Mountaineer points in the 200 IM with her 15th-place finish in 2:05.76.
Andrews then recorded the only first-place finish of the day in the 50 free with her school record and NCAA “B” cut time of 22.42. Purtell finished 13th in the event, while Shupe placed 14th with times of 23.81 and 23.90, respectively.
In the final event of the evening, the 400 medley relay team of Callaway, Matthews, Shupe and Andrews finished in third place with a time of 3:43.82. Conner, McCann, Mandie Nugent and Burnett finished in 11th place with a time of 3:52.97.
Action will resume tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. in the McCorkle Pavilion. A complete recap will follow at MSNsportsNET.com.
