Miami University
Miami Invitational
RedHawks Begin Competition at the Miami Invitational
12/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Dec. 1, 2011
OXFORD, Ohio - Miami's men's and women's swimming and diving teams jumped out to second and first place, respectively, at the Miami Invitational Thursday night at the Nixon Aquatic Center.
The Miami women opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay, leading the race from start-to-finish as senior Chelsey Bruington and juniors Bekka Westrick, Maddie Kete and Leah Thornton combined for a season-best time of 7:22.96. The RedHawks finished almost three seconds ahead of their closest competitors as the relay team from Denison turned in a time of 7:25.80 in second place.
The RedHawks extended their lead in the team standings with the 1650-yard freestyle. Freshman Courtney Collett swam to a first-place finish with a time of 16:47.67 and junior Jenny Warmolts finished third in 17:09.39 to lead Miami.
At the end of the first day of competition, the Red and White are in first place with 196 points. Denison is in second with 136 followed by Wright State with 109.
Miami's men claimed second place in the team rankings after the 1650-yard freestyle as sophomore Sean Minderlein led the way for the RedHawks with a fifth-place finish in a time of 16:02.44. Seniors Brendan Melling and Ryan Neff added points with finishes of 13th and 16th, respectively, while sophomore Max Cain swam to 17th place.
Denison dominated the long-distance event, led by sophomore Al Weik, who won the mile swim with a record-setting effort, breaking the pool, meet and his own Division III marks with a time of 15:05.14.
In the final event of the night, the Miami men raced to a third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of freshman Andrew Kilkenny, junior Alex Reinhardt and seniors Brendan Melling and Chris Gunnels turned in a time of 6:47.53 to keep the RedHawks in second place in the overall standings behind the Big Red, who won the event with a time of 6:39.94.
Defending NCAA Division III National Champion Denison leads the men's standings with 226 points followed by Miami in third with 126 and Southern Illinois in third with 120.
The second day of competition begins Friday, Dec. 2 at 9 a.m. with prelims for the 200 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 400 IM, and 50 freestyle. Finals for the events will begin at 6 p.m. along with the 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. Diving will take place at 2 p.m. for prelims and 7:30 p.m. for finals.
Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for youth under 18 and free for Miami students with school IDs.
