UNIVERISTY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving team had a field day at home Friday evening with their second meet of the season. They hosted Aquinas and both the men and women's teams captured major victories. The men won with a final score of 187-52 and the women won 197-38.
There were 26 events, 13 for both the men and women, and Saginaw Valley took first in every single one except the men's 100-yard backstroke, which they took second in by less than a second.
The women took home first in every event. First place finishes included Alexa Hieber, Graysen Koscielski, Veronica Markwood, Samantha Fowler, Cailey Mills, Andrea Bustos, Ella Banning, Flora Szklenar, Kaylee Smith, Grace Charnstrom, and the team of Hannah Martin Cook, Jenna Schmitt, Kaylene Darbee and Markwood along with the team Hieber, Martin Cook, Lucy Wilkerson, and Emily Solarski.
Fowler, Hieber, and Markwood all took home two first place finishes and Fowler led the team with 18 points with her second-place finish as well. Markwood had a season-best finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.47 seconds. Kylee Clark also had a season-best posting a time of 2:04.62 in the 200-yard freestyle. Martin Cook had a personal-best with her 27.93 second finish in the 400-yard medley relay as well.
The men also had a very successful day in the pool taking home 12 of the 13 first place finishes. First place finishers for the men were Benjamin Wainman, Alejandro Robles Ruiz, Christian Rottier, Almos Szedlak, Rory Kauffman, Logan Fox, Matthew Richmond, along with the team of Robles Ruiz, Brodey Millerov, Fox, and Kyan Harnum and the team consisting of Szedlak, Rottier, Zack Dollman, and Matteo Capotosti.
Wainman was the top scorer for the program with 21 points with his two golds and one bronze finish. Fox took home three first place finishes for 18 points to tie Kauffman with his 18 as well. Wainman had a season-best in the 500-yard freestyle finishing with a time of 4:38.90 and his big performance was time of 15:45.88 in the 1650-yard freestyle. Wainman now sits 11th overall in division 2 and is first in the GLIAC. Fox had personal bests in two of his three events. First was his time of 49.51 in the 100-yard fly, which is the third best time in program history, along with his 56.70 second finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Robles Ruiz had a D2-B finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay finishing in 45.23 seconds.
Overall, it was a great day for Cardinal swimming and diving. The program will host an alumni meet at 10:00 AM on Saturday, October 21 before hosting a tri-meet against Northern Michigan and Findlay on Friday, October 27. The first event in the tri-meet is scheduled for 4:00 PM at Gerstacker Regional Aquatic Center.
