WVU Produces Solid Second Day at Big 12s

Thursday, February 28

Austin, Texas

11:00 a.m.

West Virginia University

Big 12 Championship

Photo by: Liz Parke

February 28, 2019 10:20 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Thursday's Results

By: Joe Mitchin

AUSTIN, Texas – The West Virginia University men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued competition at the 2019 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship, at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.

The Mountaineers tallied three silver and two bronze medals on the second day of the four-day championship meet, including a school-record performance in the men's 400 medley relay.

In the final event of the evening, sophomore Angelo Russo, senior Jake Armstrong, sophomore David Dixon and senior Merwane El Merini combined for a 3:07.95 in a second-place finish, taking down the previous WVU-best time of 3:09.78 from 2018.

In all, WVU earned five NCAA B-cut times on the day.

"We're definitely getting better with every session and every time we get in the water," WVU coach Vic Riggs said. "Our 500 (freestyle) girls were really strong, and we had some good 500's from our men. From there, we just got better in each event.

"We've been focused on our relays all year. For the men to break the school record by two seconds and to get a B-cut in that event is really special."

Thursday also featured the women's 1-meter competition. After qualifying for the event finals earlier in the day, senior Averly Hobbs placed seventh with a score of 276.40.

Five Mountaineers also competed in the 1-meter consolation finals, as freshman Emma Longley (266.45) won the event and placed ninth overall. Seniors Madelyn Woods (256.05) and Julia Calcut (233.30) finished 11th and 14th overall, respectively, while sophomore Callie Smith (232.35) took 15th and freshman Camille Burt (216.65) finished 16th.

"Our divers did a phenomenal job for us this afternoon," Riggs said. "Congratulations to Averly for making the final and diving really well."

In the pool, Thursday's finals session began with the women's 500 freestyle, where sophomore Giselle Gursoy finished eighth overall with a time of 4:54.84. Freshman Emma Bliss (4:53.22) and junior Alex Pampalone (4:58.76) took part in the consolation final, taking 12th and 16th overall, respectively.

For the men, junior Trayton Saladin finished ninth overall after his 4:26.46 in the consolation final. Sophomore Max Gustafson (10th – 4:27.22) and junior Ryan Kelly (11th – 4:32.89) also raced in the heat for WVU.

Next was the women's 200 individual medley, where junior Morgan Bullock registered a third-place, bronze-medal finish in 1:58.96. The result was good for an NCAA B-qualifying time. In the consolation final, senior Marah Bieger took 14th overall in 2:06.51, while sophomore Kayla Gagnon took 15th in 2:08.00. Freshman Megan Zartman (2:08.97) was 16th. Additionally, freshman Lauren Beckish swam in the event's C final, finishing in 2:12.20 for 23rd.

Three Mountaineer men reached the podium in the men's 200 individual medley, led by Dixon. The Richmond, Virginia, native finished fifth after his B-cut time of 1:46.26. Freshman Josh Harlan took sixth in the event in 1:48.60, while sophomore Philip Kay was eighth in 1:49.75.

Sophomore Ben Brooks (1:50.00) and freshman Fausto Huerta (1:50.66) took ninth and 11th overall after their consolation-final swims in the 200 IM.

In the women's 50 freestyle, junior Julia Nilton touched the wall in 22.42 (B-cut), missing out on a school record by just .02. The result gave her the bronze medal and an All-Big 12 First Team honor. Freshman Emma Bliss placed 14th overall after finishing in 23.62 in the consolation final.

El Merini won the silver medal in the men's heat, tallying a B-cut time of 19.67. Three other Mountaineers – sophomore Christopher O'Shea (fourth – 20.06), senior Drew Damich (sixth – 20.15) and junior Sam Neaveill (seventh – 20.17) also reached the podium, while Armstrong (11th), junior Jack Frazier (13th) and redshirt senior Tristen Di Sibio (16th) all raced in the consolation final.

The 400 medley relays closed the night in Austin. The women's team, comprised of sophomore Ally VanNetta, senior Emma Harris, Bullock and Nilton, earned a time of 3:37.71 for the silver medal.

The men's school-record time of 3:07.95 also was good for a silver medal and NCAA B-qualification. It also marked the Mountaineers' third school record in two days.

Following Thursday's events at the Big 12 Championship, the men sit in second place with 301 points. The women are third with 187 points.

The meet continues on Friday, beginning with preliminaries at 11 a.m. ET. Diving is set to begin at 12:40 p.m., while the finals session is scheduled for 6 p.m.

FloSports is providing live video coverage of all four days of the meet on FloSwimming.com. Fans can also follow along with the Mountaineers by visiting the championship central webpage, which features the meet schedule, live results, ticket information and more.

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