Swimming competes at Calvin Winter Invitational
The No. 7 men’s and No. 12 women’s University of Indianapolis swimming and diving teams wrapped up the first half of their season at the Calvin Winter Invitational Nov. 29–Dec. 1 in Grand Rapids, Mich. The teams placed second and third among nine and twelve competing teams, respectively.
The women broke their own pool record in the 800 free relay at 7:30.47 with senior Maura Donahue, junior Julia Madeira, senior Shiran Abrahamson and sophomore Hayley Good, and won with a “B” standard. For the men, junior Bruno Barbosa, freshman Marius Bornkessel, sophomore Daniel Chan and freshman Dawid Rybinski won a “B” standard of 6:44.18 in the 800 free relay as well.
Madeira said that preparing for the invitational involved heavy training, with the week before being a resting week.
“I think we have a good shot at the relay,” Madeira said. “Our goal is to get four girls to the nationals through B events, which is very competitive and a lot of hard work. But we are training and working nonstop, so I think we can do it.”
Chan predicted that the team would do well and have a good chance for success.
“Our biggest rival is Grand Valley [State University],” Chan said. “So we want to beat them and get a few of our men as ‘A’-cuts for nationals. I think we have a very good chance with the medley relay.”
The men won the 400 medley relay in a “B” standard time of 3:20.53 with sophomore Justin Rossillo, junior Muzaffer Demirtas, junior Nir Posner and Barbosa.
Head Swimming and Diving Coach Gary Kinkead said that one strategy leading up to the invitational, since it was mid-season for the teams, was resting after each practice.
“My goal is that we achieve ‘A’-standards, if not just under,” Kinkead said. “I think we’ll have 40 ‘B’-standards. If we can match and beat last year’s ranking, we’ll be very happy.”
On Friday, the men’s team won the 400 medley relay in a “B” standard time of 3:20.53 with Rossillo, Demirtas, Posner and Barbosa. Both the men and women also competed in the 200 free relay on Friday, with the women coming in first and the men in second with “B” standard times.
Individually, sophomore Samantha Asencio took second in the 200 fly with a “B” standard time of 2:07.54, while Chan won for the men in a “B” standard time of 1:47.95.
Donahue won the 200 free with a time of 1:51.71, shortly after setting pool and meet records in the preliminaries with an NCAA automatic qualifying standard time of 1:49.85. Demirtas placed second in the 100 breast with a “B” standard and personal best time of 55.52.
On Saturday, Madeira, Good, sophomore Risa Ricard and Donahue set pool and meet records with a “B” standard time of 3:26.46 in the 400 free relay. The men won their 400 free relay, with a “B” time of 3:03.03 by sophomore Aaron Stevenson, senior Nikolas Aresti, Barbosa and Rossillo. Rossillo also won the 200 back with a “B” standard of 1:48.7 while Posner took third place with a time of 1:53.09.
Asencio finished third place in the 100 fly with a “B” standard time of 57.95. Demirtas and Chan were second and third for the men in the 200 breast, with “B” standard times of 2:02.12 and 2:02.98 respectively. Madeira, Barbosa and Stevenson took first, second and fourth for the men in the 100 free with “B” standard times.
The Greyhounds’ next meet will be on Jan. 11, when they will host a tri-meet against William Jewell College and Bellarmine University at the Ruth Lilly Center Pool at 6 p.m.
