A10 Swim Championships

[Anachnid]

SF must be off so I’ll fill in, not step in as the shoes are too big.
The girls are in 2nd behind GW after two of four days. They are lacking in the diving category. Lots of best times and look to have more National B cut times than ever before and it’s only day 2.
Today and tomorrow the events break out into to more individual strokes with 100s and 200s of fly, back and breast.
Pretty darn good for a program that is shoved under the rug and only around to satisfy title ix and minimum sport requirements.

KUDOS to the SID for the meet reporting on athletic dept website.

Second day results

 

[SFspidur]

I am on a work trip this week, so posting less here, but keeping eye on swim champs.

Melissa Nwakalor is a beast...winning the 50 free by almost a second is incredible. She's on the border for making NCAAs, which would be the first Spiders since 2019 when Hannah Gouger went. Melissa's time of 21.98 (which she's done twice this season) would have easily made it last year, but we'll have to see how the rest of this weekend's champs shake out to see where she stands. I imagine they may send her to a last chance meet next weekend to see if she can drop any more time if things are looking really close for qualifying.

The Spiders are getting some great swims, but the A-10 has vastly improved in recent years and our lack of depth makes it hard to come out on top.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

I am on a work trip this week, so posting less here, but keeping eye on swim champs.

Melissa Nwakalor is a beast...winning the 50 free by almost a second is incredible. She's on the border for making NCAAs, which would be the first Spiders since 2019 when Hannah Gouger went. Melissa's time of 21.98 (which she's done twice this season) would have easily made it last year, but we'll have to see how the rest of this weekend's champs shake out to see where she stands. I imagine they may send her to a last chance meet next weekend to see if she can drop any more time if things are looking really close for qualifying.

The Spiders are getting some great swims, but the A-10 has vastly improved in recent years and our lack of depth makes it hard to come out on top.

Melissa in a recent interview said she built up arm strength since she is not a strong kicker. She is a soph so imagine if
she develops a strong kick what her times would be.

 

[SFspidur]

With two events to go, UR trails GW by just half a point...524.5 to 524. Unfortunately, it's not looking good for the Spiders to pull out the win.

If placing from prelims were to hold, GW would score 32 points and UR would score 11 in the 200 fly. GW has two in the A final and one in the B final, while UR has two in the B final, so barring a DQ by an A-final GW swimmer, the Spiders will likely have a ~20-point deficit heading into the 400 free relay.

UR and GW should both be very strong in the relay, so the Spiders are very unlikely to have a big enough gap in placing (if any) over GW to make that up. I'm sure GW will coach their swimmers to have safe starts to make sure the relay doesn't get DQ'd.

Still a very impressive performance going up against a GW squad with much better resources.

Edit: Things swing even further GW's way in the 200 fly, outscoring the Spiders 42–7 to take a 35.5-point lead. GW's relay would now have to get DQ'd for the Spiders to take the trophy, as the relay point difference between 1st and 11th (last) is only 28 points.

There will be a decent break before the relay as the men have a diving final coming up.

 

[SFspidur]

Spiders with the outside smoke from lane 1 take the win in the 400 free relay as Nwakalor closed just strong enough to out-touch Mason by .16 in a new school record of 3:19.32.

Great swims all around for the Spiders this week, led individually by Nwakalor's gold in the 50 free (tying her school record from earlier in the season) and silver in the 100 free (new school record). Frosh Hannah Wieczorek had the third-fastest times in Spider history in both the 100 and 200 back, while fellow frosh Carys Edgar had the second-fastest time in Spider history in the mile. Two other frosh Gabbie Primiano and Lena Amare also with some excellent swims showing the future is bright.

Final scores:
1. GW 598.5
2. UR 571
3. Duquesne 525
4. Fordham 339
5. Mason 324
6. Davidson 300.5
7. UMass 284
8. La Salle 268
9. Bona 241
10. Rhody 189
11. SLU 72

 

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[spiderstudent17]

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Coach not looking too happy in this photo. My guess is he’s wanting another team championship badly.