The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Zippy Invitational
Swimming and Diving Wins Zippy Invitational
December 07 | Women's Swimming & Diving
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AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron swimming and diving team maintained its first-place standing throughout days two and three of the 2014 Zippy Invitational, while registering a final tally of 1734 to claim a meet victory on Sunday at the Ocasek Natatorium.
Of the 10 women's teams, Illinois State, the defending Zippy Invitational champions, came in second at 1615. Marshall (1595) took third, followed by Bloomsburg (977) and Clarion (880) in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The men's team from Bloomsburg tallied 1893 total points to claim a victory over the six competing men's teams.
"We worked hard to prepare this week. We were coming off a little bit of a break and it was a meet we wanted to do very well at," head coach Brian Peresie said. "We have to continue improving if we want to accomplish the goals that we set for ourselves this season, but I think what we have achieved thus far has set us up well for what we would like to achieve in the end."
Akron placed a swimmer in the top three in 19 of the 20 events while picking up nine first-place finishes.
"It was really exciting to see a lot of fans in the stands and to be at a high-energy competition, one where we were able to get multiple swims in both prelims and finals. We were able to make adjustments from morning to the afternoon and try to improve within the same day," Peresie added.
After setting a Zippy Invitational record and Ocasek Natatorium record in the 100 back on Saturday evening, sophomore Luka Szynal continued to dominate in the backstroke as she bested the 200-yard back program record twice on Sunday, set another Ocasek Natatorium pool record, as well as a Mid-American Conference record. Her preliminary program-record time was 1:57.35, which she later shattered with a time of 1:55.04 during the final session. Her time of 1:55.04 now stands as the fastest time in MAC history, besting Rachel Stearns of Ohio's record of 1:55.65 set in 2012. The previous Akron program record headed into Sunday was 1:57.76 set in 2010 by Kendall Karchner, while the previous pool record stood at 1:55.65 since 2012. Her performance met the NCAA B standard (1:59.19), and eclipsed the mark of 1:55.19, which received an NCAA Championship invitation last year.
Junior Ashley Drazkowski opened Sunday's final session with a victory in the 1650-yard freestyle, posting a time of 17:00.65.
In the 100-yard freestyle, junior Hannah Raspopovich notched a third-place finish, touching the wall at 51.57 to keep things rolling for the Zips before freshman Kristen Vargas and senior Amanda Lawson finished second and fifth, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Junior Erin Seiler, who set an individual Zippy Invitational record and program record (54.21) on Saturday in the 100-yard butterfly, picked up Akron's ninth top finish of the weekend, coming in the 200 fly after a 2:01.19 performance.
Akron's 400-freestyle relay team of Susan Franz, Hart, Niznik and Raspopovich posted a time of 3:25.90 as it trailed a first-place Illinois State relay team by .54 seconds for second place to close out the weekend.
The Zips will travel to Deerfield Beach, Fla. for a training trip before returning to action on Jan. 16 for a 5 p.m. dual meet at Youngstown State.
Players Mentioned
