WVU Completes Two Days at U.S. Open

Wednesday, December 4

Atlanta, Ga.

All Day

West Virginia University

Toyota U.S. Open Championships

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

December 06, 2019 11:03 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Meet Results Watch Live (Prelims)Watch Live (Finals)

By: Olivia VanHorn

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Twenty members of the West Virginia University men's and women's swimming and diving teams have completed two days of competition at USA Swimming's 2019 Toyota U.S. Open Championships in Atlanta, Georgia.

Action at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center began on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and continues through Saturday, Dec. 7. Thursday's action was highlighted by freshman Hunter Armstrong's second-place finish in the C final of the 50 freestyle and junior David Dixon's Olympic Trials Cut in the 200 individual medley.

"Today was a very strong day," WVU coach Vic Riggs said. "We were led by Hunter's 50 free and David's 200 IM. Overall, though, everyone had really good prelim swims. Then, Hunter had a great swim in finals, placing second. We had a strong day today, with plenty of opportunities to improve moving forward."

In his 50 free prelim swim, Armstrong finished in 22nd place with a time of 22.86 to qualify for the event's C final. In the finals, Armstrong narrowly improved on his prelim time with a 22.82 to grab second place in the heat.

Dixon touched the pads in 2:03.96 in the 200 IM to take 28th place and earn an Olympic Trials Cut for the 2020 Olympic Trials, which are set to take place from June 21-28, 2020, in Omaha Nebraska.

In total, 12 Mountaineers competed on Thursday, and the results are listed below.

Men's 400M Freestyle
105.     Trayton Saladin            4:06.22
132.     Max Gustafson            4:11.69

Men's 200M Individual Medley
28.       David Dixon                 2:03.96
73.       Josh Harlan                  2:08.93

Women's 50M Freestyle
73.       Emily Haimes               26.58
115.     Julia Nilton                   27.00

Men's 50M Freestyle
22.       Hunter Armstrong       22.86
90.       Christopher O'Shea     23.68
105.     Sam Neaveill                23.81
157.     Ryen Van Wyk             24.51
162.     Max Gustafson            24.76
164.     Austin Hartke              24.80

Men's 50M Freestyle C Final
2.         Hunter Armstrong       22.82

Seniors Jack Frazier, Austin Hartke, Sam Neaveill, Jack Portmann and Trayton Saladin, juniors David Dixon, Max Gustafson, Denys Kostromin, Christopher O'Shea, Angelo Russo and freshmen Hunter Armstrong and Conrad Molinaro are set to compete in Friday's prelims session.

For the women, senior Morgan Bullock, junior Ally VanNetta and freshmen Emily Haimes and Mathilde Kaelbel also are tabbed to swim on Friday.

Meet results are available at OmegaTiming.com. Friday's finals session will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network and livestreamed on NBCsports.com. All prelims sessions are featured on USASwimming.org.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUSwimDive on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.