George Washington University Athletics
Swimming and Diving Places Eight in A-Finals Saturday at Big Al Invitational
12/2/2023 9:46:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Men’s team earns three second place finishes
PRINCETON, N.J. - Ava DeAngelis and Barbara Schaal raised the standards in Foggy Bottom on Saturday with back-to-back first-place, program-record swims in the 100-yard breaststroke and 100-yard backstroke at the Big Al Invitational. In total, GW placed eight in the top eight on Saturday as the Revolutionaries closed day two of the three-day team contest. GW returns for the final day of the meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. for prelims and 5 p.m. for finals., all of which is available to stream on ESPN+.
MEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
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Djurdje Matic gave the Penn State 100-yard butterfly program-record holder Victor Baganha all he could handle in the 100-yard butterfly, but wasn't able to catch the Nittany Lion and finished in second (45.71) by less than a half-second. Daniel Nagy finished the A-final in seventh (47.59) after setting a new personal best in prelims (47.27).
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Connor Rodgers came in second place (3:48.94) in the 400-yard IM A-final. Rodgers led for nearly the entire race but couldn't hold on against Princeton's Noah Sech in the final 100-meter freestyle.
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Ganesh Sivaramakrishnan collected GW's third second-place finish (47.13) of the night in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing five spots ahead of his placement in prelims. Karol Mlynarczyk competed in the B-final in the event, going third fastest (48.15) in the consolation race.
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All three men's divers secured spots in the 3-meter B-final, where Ben Bradley went on to finish in third (278.90), Michael Wood in fourth (270.90) and Holden Wheeler in fifth (252.75).
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The men's 200-yard medley A relay tapped in fifth (1:28.33), swam by Sivaramakrishnan, Preston Lin, Nagy and Ethan Tulenko.
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Lin finished the 100-yard breaststroke B-final in 12th place (54.93).
WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS
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After a win in the 100-yard breaststroke prelims, DeAngelis returned in the A-final and broke her previous GW program record (1:01.01) en route to winning the event with a new Buff & Blue standard (1:00.96).
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Schaal dropped 1.09 seconds off her prelim time in the 100-yard backstroke A-final, pacing the field for a first-place finish (53.14) and breaking her previous GW program record (53.75).
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Zoe Schneider made her way into the A-final in the 400-IM via withdrawal and took advantage of the opportunity, finishing in sixth place with a new personal-best time (4:19.20). Colleen MacWilliams shaved almost two seconds off her personal best in the 400-yard IM with her fourth-place result in the B-final. Molly Smyers also swam in the 400-yard IM B-final and finished in seventh (4:22.88)
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Phoebe Wright made the A final in the 200-yard freestyle and finished in seventh place (1:48.15). Olivia Tighe and Ava Topolewski each swam in the 200-yard freestyle B-final, collecting sixth (1:50.45) and seventh (1:51.29), respectively.
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Moriah Freitas matched her personal best in the 100-yard butterfly to win the B-final (54.11) after finishing ninth in prelims. Topolewski finished the 100-yard B-final in eighth (55.66).
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Marlee Rickert, DeAngelis, Freitas and Schaal swam GW's 200-yard medley A relay in the first event of Saturday's finals, finishing in third place (1:40.28) behind only the hosts Princeton and within one second of the GW program record.
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Dara Reyblat qualified for the B-final in the 1-meter dive, where she finished in fifth (213.85).
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The GW 800-yard freestyle relay closed out the night with a fifth-place finish (7:24.02), swam by Wright, Olivia, Topolewski and Smyers.
