West Virginia Closes Regular Season on Senior Day

Saturday, January 30

Morgantown, W.Va.

10 a.m.

West Virginia University

271

Notre Dame

Photo by: Jack Tolman

January 30, 2021 02:50 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Results (PDF)

By: Olivia Sneed

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded competition against No. 18/18 Notre Dame on Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown.

West Virginia suffered a pair of setbacks in the season-ending meet, as the men's team was defeated by a score of 271-82 and the women fell, 244-127, at the hands of the Fighting Irish

The second day of the two-day dual meet was highlighted by a trio of wins for the Mountaineers in the competition pool. Sophomore Emily Haimes secured a win in the 50 free, senior David Dixon placed first in the 200 fly and senior Ally VanNetta captured her second win of the weekend in the 100 back.

"We had a very strong day, and it was a great way to send off our seniors," Mountaineer coach Vic Riggs said. "As a team, we competed very well. Once again, we had several lifetime best times, our relays were strong and, as a whole, we improved from our last meet. Now, we'll get back to work and get ready for Big 12s."

The day began with the 200 medley relay, where the Mountaineers secured a pair of fourth-place finishes in the women's (1:43.92) and men's (1:30.42) events. In the 200 freestyle, senior Luisa Winkler touched the wall in 1:50.23, good for third place.

Freshman Jordan Buechler led the way for WVU in the 200 IM, finishing in second place with a time of 2:03.38. In the men's event, Dixon paced West Virginia with a third-place finish (1:48.50).

In the diving well, sophomore Holly Darling and junior Camille Burt paced the women's divers on the 1- and 3-meter events. Darling finished in third place on 1-meter (296.93) and 3-meter (326.40), while Burt notched third-place finishes on both events with respective scores of 293.48 and 310.95.

"Our divers showed up in every aspect today, with three making their NCAA Zones cuts, " head diving coach Karla Helder said. "With only two competitions for our dual-meet season, these women focused on the skills to get the work done and had tremendous results."

Back in the competition pool came WVU's first win of the day, as Haimes was the first to touch the wall in the 50 free, notching a time of 23.40. Senior Ryen Van Wyk secured a second-place finish in the men's event with a time of 20.36. A pair of back-to-back Mountaineer victories were next, as Dixon earned the win in the 200 fly (1:46.79) and VanNetta notched her victory in the 100 back (54.43).

In the 1000-yard freestyle, West Virginia finished third in both events, as sophomore Anne-Elaine Tiller finished in 10:36.40 for the women and freshman William Mullen touched the wall in 9:23.26 for the men. The weekend concluded with the 400 freestyle relay. The Mountaineer women's team of Haimes, sophomore Harna Minezawa, Buechler and sophomore Jacqueline McCutchan combined to finish second in 3:22.88. Van Wyk, senior Max Gustafson, Dixon and freshman Roanoke Shirk placed third with a time of 3:01.48.

A full list of results from the meet against Notre Dame can be found at WVUsports.com.

The Mountaineers now prepare to begin the postseason at the 2021 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship, at the Lee and Joe Jamil Texas Swimming Center, in Austin, Texas. The event runs from February 18-27, with the diving competition taking place first, and the swimming competition commencing the following week.

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