The Mountaineers ended their season meet schedule on a high note this weekend, as the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams defeated Villanova to go along with a second women’s team victory over Iowa State.
The wins were WVU’s first home victories of the season and improved the women’s team to 2-3 and the men’s team to 2-2 overall. Neither team will compete again until the five-day Big 12 Championship begins Feb. 27.
Seniors Danny Berlitz and Justin Heimes led the 234-66 victory for the men, combining for five first-place finishes including relays. Berlitz won the 200-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard IM with times of 1:45.64 and 3:48.60 respectively while Heimes won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 48.73.
West Virginia’s teams also won both men’s relay events. Berlitz and Heimes teamed up with juniors Braden Osborn and Conner McBeth to win the 200-yard medley by a wide 2.79 seconds over another WVU team. The winning 400-yard freestyle relay team featured Heimes, McBeth, senior Logan McFadden, and sophomore Jamin Harlan.
McBeth dominated the 100-yard freestyle event, winning by 2.1 seconds with a time of 43.92. Osborn won a tight 50-yard freestyle race with a time of 20.64 seconds. He and teammate Roanoke Shirk were WVU’s only competitors in the event, and both defeated all three Villanova swimmers with the only times under 21 seconds. Osborn also won the 100-yard butterfly.
Also winning events for the men’s team were sophomore Max Nielsen (200 freestyle), senior Joe Schaefer (100 breaststroke), freshman Ian McKinney (200 butterfly), sophomore Adam McDonald (200 breaststroke), and senior Ivan Puskovitch (1,650 freestyle).
In the diving events, freshman Owen Recker placed first in the men’s one-meter, with junior Glenn Oriega placing second. The two swapped places in the three-meter event.
The women’s team also had the first and second placers in one-meter, as junior Sarah Krusinski outdid sophomore teammate Abigail Sullivan. Krusinski placed second to Iowa State’s Kate Mitchell in the three-meter competition while Sullivan placed third.
Most impressive in the diving well was Sara Haggerty, who set a program record for the platform with a score of 287.85. This tops the previous program record she set last meet against Pittsburgh.
Also winning in the women’s three-team meet were Mia Cheatwood (100 and 200 breaststroke), Ada Szwabinska (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle), senior Lilly Culp (100 butterfly), senior Shelby Gerving (400 IM), the 200-yard medley relay team, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team.
Cheatwood and Szwabinska, both sophomores, swam for both of the winning relay teams as well, giving each swimmer first-place finishes in all four events she swam Saturday.
Despite a strong effort from the Wildcats, WVU won the meet 173.5-125.5. Against Iowa State, the Mountaineers won 191-108, giving the women’s team its first two victories of the season in a powerful fashion.
West Virginia has completed all traditional meets on the schedule but will be competing in larger championships through the end of March.
Photo from WVU Swimming & Diving
