Houston Women, TCU Men Shine at Big 12 East Championships
The Houston women’s team and TCU men’s team ended up on top at the Big 12 East Championships, swum in Houston on Friday and Saturday.
Cincinnati came up on top of the combined scoring, one of the three participants out of five that has both men’s and women’s swimming, which Houston does not.
Big 12 East Championships
Women’s scores
- Houston 1292
- Cincinnati 1172
- TCU 1031
- West Virginia 807
- Iowa State 781
Men’s scores
- TCU 961
- Cincinnati 913
- West Virginia 812
Combined scores
- Cincinnati 2085
- TCU 1992
- West Virginia 1619
- Houston 1292
- Iowa State 781
Joleigh Crye led Cincinnati’s charge on Friday with wins in the 100 butterfly – in 53.97, by .01 over teammate Kate Mardis, who officially scored in sixth by the locked finals format of this meet – and the 100 breaststroke in 59.31. Crye swam breaststroke with Mardis on fly in winning the 200 medley relay, then Mardis led off Cincy’s winning 200 freestyle relay.
Michel Libby won the 400 individual medley in 4:17.34, and Morgan Michelle posted the fastest time in the 200 free (147.94) after finishing third-fastest (officially sixth place) in the 400 IM.
Houston surged with a strong second session Friday afternoon. Alexia Duncan won the 100 back in 52.62. She led off the 400 medley relay in 53.15 to lead Evelyn Entrekin, Noor El Gendy and Liya Goupil to the win in 3:36.07.
TCU picked up three wins in that session. Nina Vadovicova won the 200 breast in 2:09.96. Avery Dillon’s 4:48.64 led the 500 free. Molly Cullen went 22.75 to edge Mardis and Goupil in the 50 free.
Emma Overall started Saturday by winning the 1650 free for Houston, with Dillon second. Entrekin followed with a time of 2:00.69 to win the 200 IM, with Duncan second-fastest (sixth overall) in 2:00.94. Duncan would get her second win in the 200 back by going 1:55.95, quicker by nearly three seconds over the field.
Goupil’s 49.75 won the 100 free, with Cullen second-fastest (sixth overall) in 49.92 and Mardis second officially in 50.10. Houston had the top two times of the 200 fly via Noor El Gendy, in sixth at 1:58.92, and Sydney Nethercutt as the official winner in 1:58.94.
Cincinnati finished the meet with a win in the 400 free relay, Lindi Worrell, Mardis, Joann Adler and Taira Vroom going 3:20.33, .44 up on Houston.
TCU dominated the men’s meet. Lior Mizrahi led off Friday’s winning 200 medley relay in backstroke, then won the next event, the 100 fly, in 47.55. Viktor Hristov won the 200 free in 1:37.17 with teammate Luka Cavic third, then on Saturday claimed the 200 fly in 1:47.25 ahead of teammate Yoachan Meza.
TCU won both of the 200-yard relays in the first session, got DQed in the 400 medley (one of three teams to suffer that fate) and returned to win the 400 free to cap the meet. Nigel Forbes and Peter Horton were on all three winning squads. The sprint depth was on display when Horton won the 50 free in 19.64 with Forbes second in 20.13, then on Saturday when Horton won the 100 free in 43.19 and Forbes followed in second in 44.53.
Filip Suchanski opened the second session with a win in the 100 back in 47.61. Aaron Wilmes did the same on Saturday in the mile, going 15:19.32, 18 seconds clear of the chasers.
Cincinnati’s Kyle Bumgardner won the 400 IM on Friday in 3:51.18. He was second to teammate Connor Bennett’s 53.99 in the 100 breast, then won the 200 breast in 1:57.40, and was the runner-up to teammate Owen Chiles (1:47.69) by a quarter-second in the 200 IM on Saturday.
Aiden Gerst won the 500 free on Friday in 4:25.63 for the Bearcats, and Joe Swain bested Suchanski by .02 seconds in the 200 back in 1:44.16.
West Virginia picked up three runner-up results, with Christian Simpson in the 200 free, Rafael Mimoso in the 200 breast and Jake Salcedo in the 500 free.
