GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving opened up their season with a tri-meet against Grand Valley State University and Calvin University at Calvin on Saturday. The men beat Calvin 171 to 128 and lost to Grand Valley 230 to 69. The women beat Calvin 153 to 145 and lost to Grand Valley 250 to 49.
One of the top performances for the men came from their first event. The 200-yard medley relay was won by Alejandro Robles Ruiz, Christian Rottier, Logan Fox, and Almos Szedlak who had a time of one minute and 30.74 seconds just edging out Grand Valley by .37 seconds. Robles Ruiz wasn't done as he took second in the 200-yard backstroke finishing just .30 seconds behind the leader with a time of 1:48.52. He also took third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.87 seconds. That was just short by .27 seconds. Robles Ruiz, Fox, Josh Rottier, and Eric Slabbert also took second at the end of the meet in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The four combined for a time of 1:23.19.
Other big performances were Benjamin Wainman taking second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a mark of 9:37.94 and third in the 500-yard freestyle finishing in 4:41.05. Josh Rottier took home third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 57.10, just over a second behind first. Rodrigo Vargas took third as well in the 200-yard butterfly finishing with a time of 1:54.67. Rory Kauffman had a good day in the 3-meter dive placing second with a score of 265.50. Szedlak combined for the first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay and capped off his day with a third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley just a few seconds behind first with a time of 1:56.44.
For the women, Hannah Martin Cook had a great first event for SVSU. A second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.65 and a third-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke completing the event in 2:05.37. Alex Hieber also took second in an event as she completed the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:35.27. Hieber was just two seconds behind the leader. She also took third in the 500-yard freestyle later on with a time of 5:11.59. Flora Mia Szklenar had the third silver placing for the Cardinals with a time of 2:07.32 in the 200-yard butterfly event. On the diving side, Kaylee Smith took fourth in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dive having a score of 234.35 and 225.45 respectively.
Head coach Jason Lintjer had a resoundingly good feeling about the meet as they head into the season.
"Very nice meet for the Cards. Many freshman women stepped up really well. I was very happy with the results and looking forward to the rest of the season." Lintjer said as the swim & dive season kicks off.
The team competes at home this week hosting Aquinas on Friday, October 20. The first event is scheduled at 5:00 PM at Gerstacker Regional Aquatic Center at SVSU.