DETROIT – The Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving program opened up the new year with a duel at Wayne State on Saturday afternoon. The men's team fell 129-106, while the women's squad faced a 153-85 defeat.
Despite the tough final result, the Cardinals had several athletes finish at the top of their events on both the men's and women's sides.
Alejandro Robles Ruiz was one of those top finishers as he won the men's 100-yard freestyle race with a time of 45.40 seconds. Robles Ruiz was also a member of the first-place 400-yard freestyle "A" team that consisted of Robles Ruiz, Logan Fox, Eric Slabbert, and Almos Szedlak. Finally, he was also on the second-place 200-yard medley relay squad along with Christian Rottier, Josh Rottier, and Fox.
Szedlak won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:42.93 and placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:42.31. Slabbert was a runner-up in the 200-yard individual medley after a 1:56.25 mark. Benjamin Wainman placed second in the 1,000-yard freestyle after a finish of 9:42.45. Wainnman also had a third-place performance in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:48.80 finish. Rory Kauffman placed second in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive with final scores of 442.10 and 270.85. Rodrigo Vargas had a second and third-place finish on the afternoon. He took second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:55.80 and third in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a finish of 10:00.52. Logan Stombaugh was second in the 200-yard backstroke (2:00.73). He also had a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley. The final runner-up result for the men came from the 400-yard freestyle relay "B" team consisting of Connor Spanos, Gavin Crews, Joao Pedro Nogueira, and Henry Booker. The relay team set a mark of 3:14.17 in the race.
The top finishers on the women's sides were Sierra Maison, who won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:35.10, and the women's 400-yard freestyle relay "A" team consisting of Andrea Bustos, Ella Yantz, Veronica Markwood, and Zoe Vance who won the race with a time of 3:45.26. Maison also competed in the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley, where she finished fourth (2:17.55) and fifth (2:17.58), respectively.
The women's 200-yard medley relay team of Ella Banning, Kiersten Stoddard, Emily Solarski, and Markwood placed second with a time of 1:49.55. The 400-yard freestyle relay "B" team that contained Kylie Clark, Flora Szklenar, Lucy Engle-Wilkerson, and Solarski was also second with a mark of 3:49.35. Banning placed third in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:12.48. Szklenar had a second-place showing in the 200-yard butterfly after finishing the race in 2:12.05. Engle-Wilkerson competed as an individual in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle, where she placed third in both events with times of 11:02.08 and 5:20.98. Meghan Cimini was the runner-up in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:37.68, while Andrea Bustos also placed second in the 500-yard freestyle with a mark of 5:19.40. Kaylee smith was the final runner-up for the women's team after she finished the 3-meter dive event with a score of 248.05.
Adelaide Spencer was third in the 1-meter dive with 397.70. Lisette Fenneuff placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke after clocking in at 2:39.22. The final top-three finish for the women's team was the 400-yard freestyle relay "C" team consisting of Cassidy Lease, Ava Frick, Brooke Houser, and Devyn Olson. The team finished the race at 3:54.53.
UP NEXT
The SVSU swimming and diving team will travel to Ashland next Saturday, January 14, to compete against Ashland and Hillsdale starting at 1:00 p.m.