The Lindenwood swimming and diving teams had an impressive showing on Friday and Saturday at the Drury Invitational from Springfield, Mo. The men placed first out of seven teams, while the women finished second out of six squads. Among the teams hosted by Drury besides Lindenwood were fellow GLVC members William Jewell, Maryville, Missouri-St. Louis, and Missouri S&T (men only), along with Tabor College, a member of the NAIA.
The men began Friday's competition with a win in the 200 free relay, edging out Missouri S&T by .38 seconds in the event.
Michal Szczukowski anchored the relay with a 20.55 mark, with
Alex Leff,
Ross Watson, and
Jared Thornton also contributing to the win.
Felix Eigel and
Cristian Vasquez racked up a combined 33 points in the 500 free, as the former finished second and the latter placed third. The pair also placed first and second, respectively, in the 400 IM. Sylwester Borowicz-Skoneczny touched the wall in 4:45.38, good for fifth in the 500 free. Eigel continued on his tear at the invitational, winning 200 back.
Serghei Golban won the 50 free event for the third time this season already, as the team has only competed in three meets. His 20.64 mark ranks just behind his previous season-best by .01. Leff, Watson, and Szczukowski placed in the top six, finishing in consecutive order of each other.
Haoning Chen tied for seventh, while
Joey Martin finished .01 behind. Golban also won the 100 fly with a time of 49.12, and placed third in the 100 free.
Blake Logan would place second in the 100 back.
For the women,
Erin Sutton and
Ewa Dymarek led off the success in individual events. The two placed second and third, respectively, in the 200 IM, earning 33 points between them. Sutton also finished third in the 400 IM, the event that
Alecia McGillivray touched the wall in second place. Dymarek would also place second in the 100 breast, and third in the 200.
The women dominated the 200 free event, placing eight in the top 10, including
Kamila Kunka (first) and Simone deRijcke (second).
Hannah Vinyard (1:58.66),
Bethany Steffes (1:58.99), Sutton (1:59.61),
Lena Kirchner (1:59.98), and McGillivray (2:00.16) finished fourth through eighth, while
Morgan Fischer (2:00.98) placed 10th.
Vinyard would go on and win the 200 fly with a time of 2:06.78, and also finished second in the 100 fly. Kunka (second) and McGillivray (fourth) finished less than five seconds apart in the 1000 free.
Ola Tomala placed second in the 100 back and fifth in the 100 fly.
McKenzie Murphy also did well in the 100 back, earning third place with a time of 1:01.14, while
Abby Maricle finished fifth. Tomala and Murphy carried their success from the 100 back to the 200 event, again finished second and third, respectively.
Both the men and women will get back to the pool next Saturday, as Saint Louis, Missouri-St. Louis, Maryville, and Lindenwood-Belleville visits the St. Peters Rec-Plex. The meet will begin at 1 p.m.
