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Men’s Swimming Wins, Divers Sweep, at TCU
January 16, 2016 07:01 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It came down to the final race for both the West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams as the men defeated TCU and the women were edged by the Horned Frogs on Saturday afternoon, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Thanks to a strong finish, the Mountaineer men won their second consecutive meet with a 154-144 victory to improve to 3-1 against TCU as Big 12 foes. The women’s competition was just as close, but the Horned Frogs prevailed for a 157-143 win.
“What a great meet. We showed true grit and fight today,” WVU coach Vic Riggs said. “Both the men and women started the meet a little sluggish, and that definitely put us in the hole at the first break. We talked about how we were going to respond and the opportunity we had in front of us. It all started with Jaimee [Gillmore’s] and Andrew [Marsh’s] wins in the 100 freestyle, and we went from there. The divers definitely were the difference for both teams today, and [diving coach Mike Grapner] did a great job impressing on them their role in the meet.”
Both the men and women got off to slow starts. TCU won four of the first six women’s races and five of the first seven men’s events, but WVU answered to erase a 20-point deficit by the men and a 16-point deficit from the women at the first break. The Mountaineers used three consecutive wins by both the men and women, another streak of four straight wins by the men and a sweep of the four diving events to climb back even with the Horned Frogs.
The men won 10 of the 16 events, while the women posted eight wins. Senior Andrew Marsh led the way with three individual wins for the Mountaineers. Seniors Jaimee Gillmore and Max Spencer, juniors Nate Carr and Emma Skelley and sophomore diver Alex Obendorf all won two individual events.
“Both meets came down to the last relays, and we came away a fingernail ahead on the men’s side and just were a little short in the women’s race,” Riggs said. “With such a long travel day yesterday and a very tight meet today, we swam as well and better than last week in many areas, and that's a great sign of this team's desire to win.”
Obendorf’s two victories, on 1-meter and 3-meter, helped WVU to a sweep of the men’s and women’s diving events. A pair of freshmen, Julia Calcutt on 1-meter and Maddie Woods on 3-meter earned the wins for the women. The men earned the top-three finishes on 3-meter and a 1-2 finish on 1-meter, while Calcutt added to her 1-meter win with a third-place showing on 3-meter.
“We knew the pressure was on, coming into this meet, and I’m thrilled with the results,” Grapner said. “Alex won both boards and just missed the WVU team record by less than a point. The guys secured their goal and went 1-2-3 on 3-meter, and they all achieved zone qualifying scores. The girls stepped up as well and did a great job as just freshmen. They all came together as both swimmers and divers and represented as a team of Mountaineers!”
Senior Courtney Miller and sophomore Amelie Currat also earned individual wins for the Mountaineers, in the women’s 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke, respectively. Additionally, the WVU men posted a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, with Marsh, senior Ross Glegg and freshmen Drew Damich and Merwane El Merini.
Skelley earned WVU’s first win of the day with a 10:08.16 to win the 1,000 free. She won by more than 20 seconds, while senior teammate Kelsey Frantz came in third in 10:32.14, just 2.27 seconds shy of a second-place finish.
Miller’s win came in the 100 backstroke with a 56.46. She was joined in the top three by freshman Maggie Miller, who touched the wall in 58.22 to finish third.
Marsh helped the Mountaineers post the 100 backstroke sweep with a 49.31 to win the men’s event for his first victory of the day.
Spencer kept the winning going for the WVU men with a 55.10 in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Aidan Fumagalli finished in third, with a 57.07.
Gillmore won back-to-back races for the Mountaineers, in the 50 and 100 freestyle. She touched the wall in 23.59 in the 50 to win by 0.56 seconds. In the next women’s race, a 52.34 was good for the win in the 100 for Gillmore. Freshman teammate Sydnee Karam was third in 53.61.
Marsh won his second race of the day, and the first of three straight WVU men’s wins, with a 45.15 in the 100 freestyle. Glegg added a third-place finish for the Mountaineers with a 46.32.
Currat capped a string of three consecutive women’s victories with a 2:03.40 in the 200 backstroke, as the Mountaineers finished 1-2-3 in the event. Sophomore Taylor Gill came in second with a 2:05.29, while Courtney Miller was third in 2:05.83.
Carr posted his first victory as WVU swept the 200 backstroke with a win in the men’s event with a 1:50.33. Spencer capped the Mountaineer men’s third straight win with a 1:59.32 to win the 200 breaststroke.
Skelley earned her second win of the day with a 5:00.60 in the 500 freestyle. Marsh’s third and final individual win came in the 100 butterfly with a 48.98, and Carr’s final individual victory was a 1:49.55 in the 200 individual medley, a win by 1.41 seconds.
The WVU men closed the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, which secured the win over TCU. Marsh, Glegg, Damich and El Merini finished in 3:02.45, edging out TCU by 0.02 seconds.
Obendorf’s wins on springboard came with a 320.97 on 1-meter and a 364.88 on 3-meter. Sophomore Mike Proietto was 2nd on both 1-meter (321.74) and 3-meter (338.18), while sophomore Logan McHenry was third on 3-meter (336.60) and fourth on 1-meter (308.33).
Calcutt earned the win on 1-meter thanks to a 274.19, and Woods won the 3-meter with a 276.82. Calcutt was also third on 3-meter with a 262.20, and Woods added a fourth-place finish on 1-meter with a 238.12.
West Virginia returns home to host its final home meet of the season with Senior Night on Friday, Jan. 29, at 6 p.m. The men and women compete against Villanova, while the women will also face Big 12 foe Iowa State.
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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