KENTWOOD, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving program had big news Friday as they were ranked the highest in program history in the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) top 25 poll. The men ranked 13th and the women 21st as they were getting ready for the three-day Davenport Invitational. SVSU men broke five program records and took second and the women took third after the weekend competing against seven and six other teams respectively.
The men took home eight first-place, eight second-place, and six third-place finishes. Top performers for the men were Alejandro Robles Ruiz, Logan Fox, Benjamin Wainman, Almos Szedlak, and Eric Slabbert who were the top five scorers. Robles-Ruiz had four NCAA DII B cut times including a 43.94 second finish in his leg of the 400-yard free relay with the team of Robles-Ruiz, Fox, Szedlak, and Slabbert. The other three events were a 48.32 second finish in the 100-yard back stroke, and two school records for Robles-Ruiz with a 47.60 second finish in the 100-yard fly and a 1:45.49 finish in the 200-yard backstroke. Fox had four D2 B cut times along with four personal best times and a program record. The personal bests included a 44.52 second finish in the 100-yard freestyle, a 48.25 finish in the 100-yard fly, a 1:48.17 finish in the 200-yard individual medley, and a record breaking 53.31 second finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Wainman continued to improve as he broke his own school record yet again. Wainman completed the 1650-yard freestyle in 15:30.58 which shaved off four and a half seconds off his record time he set back in October. The last record was set by Rory Kauffman who scored 472.65 points in 11 dives in the 3-meter diving event.
The women earning five second-place, and four-third place finishes. Flora Mia Szklenar, Alexa Hieber, Hannah Martin Cook, Kaylee Smith, and Andrea Bustos were the top five scorers for SVSU. Szklenar had a D2 B cut time finishing the 200-yard fly in 2:04.68. Hieber had three personal bests in her four events. The three personal bests were a 53.67 second finish in the 100-yard freestyle, a 5:04.95 finish in the 500-yard freestyle, and a 17:25.87 finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Martin Cook set three personal bests finishing the 100-yard fly in 59.14 along with her leg of 24.97 in the 200-yard free relay and her leg of 55.50 in the 400-yard free relay. Smith took second in both the 1-meter dive and 3-meter dive with scores of 399.95 and 375.50 in the finals. Bustos also had three personal bests with a time of 24.92 in her opening leg of the 200-yard free relay along with a 1:53.66 finish in the 200-yard free which was two seconds short of the school record. She also had a 57.90 second finish in the 100-yard fly. Samantha Fowler rounded out the top times for Saginaw Valley with a D2 B cut time of 5;04.78 in the 500-yard freestyle.
Saginaw Valley swimming and diving has the holiday break off as they have four meets in January. First they head to Wayne State in the new year on Saturday, January 6 at the Matthaei Natatorium in Detroit, Michigan.