Day 1: Finals

With the first day of finals in the bag, the team will now get ready for day # 2 of the Akron Invite. Although the morning session started a little slow for us, the evening session is where the team really started rolling.

The meet started with the women's 200 free relay of Meghann McGoldrick, Katy Hare, Amanda McClelland and Krist Magee putting together a solid effort with a sixth place time of 1:36.65, a season best time. The men's team of Brendan Schilling, Doug McWhorter, Dan Doyle and Chad Houck also put together a solid effort, placing 5th with a time of 1:24.88.

Following the 200 free relays the women got the individual events going with Amanda McClelland placing 15th in the 500 free (5:11.78) and Annie Hayles placing 7th with a time of 5:06.20. On the men's side, Brian Bouvier swam to a 21st place (4:51.64), Nick Kovacs swam to a 19th place (4:49.55), Chris Kobela swam a season best of 4:42.49, good enough for 7th and Ed LeBlanc swam a 4:38.54, placing second 2nd.

The women continued with the fast swimming in the 200 IM with Hillary Hocson placing 21st with a 2:12.31, Miriam McGeath placing 6th with a time of 2:09.84 and Caitie Zajko taking home the silver with a time of 2:07.84. In the men's IM, Roman Becicka was the sole finalist and touched the wall with a second place finish and a season best time of 1:52.89.

As the meet continued, the sprinter got a crack at it and Meghan McGoldrick made the most of her opportunity, winning the consolation heat and swimming a life time best of 23.76. On the men's side Chad Houck finished 24th with a time of 22.07, Doug McWhorter finished 15th with a time of 21.78, Brendan Schilling won the consolation heat with a time of 21.28 and Jim O'Hara finished 4th int he finals with a time of 21.20. Following the diving break, the last event (400 medley relay) got underway.

The women's relay of Morgan Claycomb, Caitie Zajko, Kirstie shumaker and Meghan McGoldrick swam a very solid time of 3:55.72, good enough for 6th place. The men's relay of Mitch Smith, Ian Walsh, Jim O'Hara and Ed LeBlanc ended the day with a second place time of 3:23.82.

All-in-all, it was a very solid night for the team. I am quite certain with the first day jitters out of the way, the teams will continue to get better with each of the final two days of the meet.

See you around the pool,
Dave