UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving program hopped back in the pool Saturday morning against Findlay. The men captured the upset victory with a team score of 117-114 and the women fell in a close meet 118-113.
Benjamin Wainman broke another record as he finished the 1650-yard freestyle in 15:35.03. It was four seconds faster than his previous record time set back in February and is good for the best time in NCAA Division II. Wainman was coming off a record breaking meet the day before along with Alexa Hieber. Hieber didn't break the 1650 record today, but is sixth in the nation with her time of 17:31.13, which was first in the meet.
There are five other notable rankings for SVSU swimming and diving. Alejandro Robles Ruiz in the 200-yard freestyle as he is fourth with a time of 1:39.06. Almos Szedlak placed fifth in the country with his time of 4:02.94 in the 400-yard individual medley. Logan Fox took third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:04.38 and is ranked sixth in D2. The 200-yard free relay team of Szedlak, Eric Slabbert, Robles Ruiz, and Josh Rottier placed second finishing in 1:22.53 and are eighth best is the country. Hannah Martin Cook wraps up the rankings in 11th in D2 with her 200-yard backstroke time of 2:04.98 which was second in the meet.
The men have back-to-back wins over Findlay who were ranked seventh in D2 in October while the men's program was 15th. The women beat Findlay Friday in the tri-meet and then lost Saturday. The Cardinal women are unranked and Findlay was just out of the top 25 in the "also receiving votes" category.
With a highly competitive and close meet, head coach Jason Lintjer said,
"We competed really well again today and fought to the very end. I'm happy with how we performed this weekend and very impressed with how many individuals and relays are ranked in the top 10 in the country. We're in great shape heading into the rest of the season."
Saginaw Valley swimming and diving has a couple weeks off before heading to the Davenport Invitational for a three-day meet in November. It will start Friday, November 17 at the Kentwood Aquatic Center.
