Army Sets Four Relay Pool Records at Rutgers Invitational
The Army men’s team set pool records in all four relays at the Rutgers Invitational, which saw Rutgers set a women’s relay record and Boston College snag a program record.
Rutgers set the pool record with its women’s 200 freestyle relay, and BC freshman Michael Zhou set a program mark in the 200 backstroke at the Rutgers Invitational.
The two-day meet at the Rutgers Aquatics Center spanned Friday and Saturday. No team scoring was held for the event.
Rutgers started the meet with the pool mark in the 200 free relay, the team of Lena Bauer, Emilianna Gonzalez, Anna Vlachou and Journei Webster going 1:30.34. They won by nearly three seconds and brushed within .01 of the program record from 2020.
The Scarlet Knights won all four women’s relays, with Gonzalez and Webster on three of them. Vlachou was part of all four. She won the 100 free in 48.87, a second ahead of Gonzalez’s runner-up time. Vlachou’s time of 22.61 was second to Gonzalez’s 22.47 in the 50 free, and she also finished second in the 100 butterfly.
Anna Hazlehurst won both individual medleys, going 2:02.67 in the 200 and 4:23.76 in the 400. Freshman Sofia Bartoloni captured the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.21 and the 200 breast in 2:15.73 in addition to legs on both winning medley relays. Her fellow rookie Florence Robitaille collected a win in the 200 back in 1:58.29 to go with third-place results in the 100 back and 500 free. In the latter, she was a spot back of teammate Grace Sorensen, the freshman winning the 200 fly in 2:02.60 and finishing third in the 1,000 free.
Rutgers led the diving competition. Bailee Sturgill scored 326.90 to win 1-meter. Second was Katerina Hoffman, who scored 311.60 on 3-meter to edge Sturgill by 14 points.
Army’s men were just as unstoppable. The Black Knights’ medley relay quartet of Johnny Crush, Gavin Santoso, Daniel Verdolaga and Thomas Hadji went 3:12.76 in the 400 and 1:27.46. Crush led off and Hadji anchored both freestyle relays, setting facilities marks in the 200 in 1:19.09 and the 400 in 2:56.39. Jason Sugihara was on both of those, with Sam Reilly swimming third on the 400 free and Eddie Wang on the 200 free.
Crush won the 100 back in 46.33 and the 200 back in 1:42.94. Teammate Paul Moody was second in the shorter race and third in the 200. Hadji took down the 200 free in 1:37.57. and the 100 free in 43.65. Kalvin Hahn won the 200 breast in 1:58.33. Verdolaga was second in both butterfly races.
Crush was so good that it consigned Zhou’s school record in the 200 back to second place. He went 1:45.39, erasing the program mark set by Colin O’Leary in 2019. Zhou was also second in the 200 IM to teammate Quincy Topping, who went 1:47.14. Topping was second in the 200 breast. The Eagles also got victories from Josh Bedford in the 500 free, Lucas Bailey in the 100 fly, Arthur Tonetto in the 100 breast and Augustas Lapys in the 200 fly. Bedford was second in the 1,000 free.
Elsewhere on the women’s side, Army’s Hannah Wooten won the 1,000 free in 10:10.50 and captured the 500 in 4:54.66. Both are program top-10 times, as was the runner-up swim from Lien Nguyen of 10:13.04 in the 1,000. Angie McKane won the 100 fly in 53.27, and Ellie Burke won the 200 free in 1:51.75 in consecutive events for the Black Knights.
Boston College’s Avery Cunneen won the 100 back in 55.53, .04 seconds ahead of Fordham’s Kseniia Luniushina. Cunneen was also second in the 200 back. Teammate Caroline Kilty was second in the 200 IM and 200 free.
Fordham also got a runner-up result from Karina Kanary in the 200 breast, with teammate Hayley Clark third.
The men’s race was more distributed in its wins. Emanuele Zingaro of St. Bonaventure won the 50 free in 19.92, two tenths shy of his program record. The Italian international was also third in the 100 free, as was Joseph Pyon in the 100 fly. Matheus Rinaldi was second in the 500 free.
Fordham’s Quinn MacPhail pulled an impressive double, winning the 400 IM in 3:56.75 and the 1,000 free in 9:15.08. Teammate Max Maycher was second in the 100 breast.
In men’s diving, Knox Noble swept the golds, scoring 284.33 on 3-meter and 300.30 on 1-meter.
