RESULTSMORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon for a BIG EAST meet with the Bearcats. The men earned their second victory of the season, defeating Cincinnati 195-101. The women fell to the Bearcats, 162-130.
“It was a good day for West Virginia swimming and diving,” coach Vic Riggs said. “I was really pleased with the team’s effort and having the men perform well on the boards set the tone for the remainder of the meet.”
The Mountaineers opened the individual competition with a title in the 1650 free. Sophomore Kata Fodor took the top spot for the women, swimming to a time of 17:02.73, with sophomore Sloan Storie coming in second at 17:22.64 and senior Caroline Larsson coming in third at 17:32.84. Sophomore Tim O’Malley took third (16:29.79) for the men, followed by sophomore Jake Querciagrossa in fourth (16:37.54).
Both squads took first in the 200 free with sophomore Rachael Burnett placing first (1:54.12) for the women and sophomore Hugh Simmonds taking first (1:41.16) for the men. Junior Eric Johnson took third in a time of 1:46.42.
Sophomore Jared Goldthorpe swam to a first-place (51.70) finish for the men in the 100 back. Sophomore Leo Downes and freshman Bryan Brown came in third (54.45) and fourth (55.82), respectively. Sophomore Sara Conner and sophomore Nikki Vetterlein swam to third (59.80) and fourth (1:01.19) place, respectively, for the women.
Junior Jack Greenhalgh recorded his first first-place finish of the season in the 100 breast in a time of 59.55. Greenhalgh also went on to finish second (2:11.73) in the 200 breast.
Sophomore Mandie Nugent and junior Taylor Camp each took first in the 200 fly. Nugent finished in a time of 2:02.55, setting a new pool record. Camp took first in 1:51.32, followed by sophomore Kyle Bandy in second (1:57.14) and junior Brandon Carr in third (1:57.51).
The men also swept the 100 free with freshman Tim Squires placing first (21.27), junior Brad Eichenseer (21.55) taking second and junior Joe Bailey finishing third (21.98). Senior Lyn Ann Nelson placed second (24.75) for the women in the event.
Eichenseer and Squires then took second (47.45) and third (47.55) in the 100 free, respectively. Nelson took first (52.99) for the women, with Burnett finishing third (53.94).
The men took the top three spots in the 200 back with Goldthorpe finishing first (1:52.09), Querciagrossa taking second (1:57.67) and Downes finishing third (1:58.51). Freshman Danielle Smith finished second (2:07.45) for the women, followed by sophomore Austen Carrington in third (2:07.52) and Conner in fourth (2:08.52).
The women then swept an event of their own in the 500 free, taking the top four spots. Burnett took first place in 5:01.66, followed by Fodor in second (5:02.85), Storie in third (5:06.72) and Larsson in fourth (5:13.23). Simmonds was able to finish second for the men in 4:38.69.
Nugent had her second first-place (56.97) finish of the day in the 100 fly, while Camp took first (49.90) for the men. Junior Martin Vanis, Bandy and freshman Joseph AbuRahma took second, third and fourth, respectively, behind Camp.
In the 200 IM, the final individual event, sophomore Breanna McCann took first (2:09.02) for the women and Carr placed first (1:57.01) for the men.
In the diving well, junior Matt O’Neill finished first (269.70) on the 3-meter, while freshman Richard Pokorny finished in second (266.93). O’Neill also took first (288.08) on the 1-meter with Pokorny placing second (262.43).
The relays had successful performances with the men and women placing first in the 800 free relay. The team of Querciagrossa, Goldthorpe, Bandy and Simmonds finished in 6:57.26, while Fodor, Nugent, Nelson and Burnett finished in 7:38.14 for the women.
The 200 medley relay of Camp, Greenhalgh, Eichenseer and Squires finished first (1:33.89) for the men, while Smith, McCann, Nugent and Nelson took second (1:49.46) for the women.
“We still have a lot to improve upon for the NIKE Cup and the BIG EAST Championships, but I’m very pleased with where we are as a team and the effort we have been putting in,” Riggs said.
The women’s team will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 11 a.m., when they host Rutgers in the WVU Natatorium. The men will be off until the UNC Nike Cup from Nov. 18-20.
