Kristina Paegle Has Hand in Four Wins as Indiana Sweeps Cincinnati
Kristina Paegle was part of four victories for the Indiana women as as the Hoosiers wrapped up the fall schedule with a domination of Cincinnati.
The women’s team won, 171-123, in a meet full of exhibition swims from the beginning. The men’s squad picked up a 184.5-107.5 result over the Bearcats.
Paegle anchored the 200 medley relay with a split of 21.86 seconds. The quartet of Kacey McKenna, Kabria Chapman, Ava Whitaker and Paegle went 1:37.28 to get to the wall first. Paegle went 21.88 in the 200 free relay to cap the meet, joining Mya DeWitt, Sze Yeo and Anna Peplowski in winning in 1:29.44. Paegle claimed the 200 freestyle in 1:46.13, just .18 seconds ahead of teammate Reese Tiltmann, then won the 100 butterfly in 53.58, with DeWitt second.
Indiana faced little opposition on the road to victory. DeWitt picked up a second win by going 49.38 in the 100 free ahead of Tiltmann. Mary Elizabeth Cespedes swept breaststroke, in 1:00.88 in the 100 (with Peplowski’s 1:02.15 second) and 2:11.57 in the 200. Peplowski captured the 200 IM in 1:57.07. Anna Freed posted the fastest time in the 100 back in 53.47 and in the 500 at 4:50.85. Whitaker won the 200 fly, McKenna the 200 back, Mariah Denigan the mile. Indiana swept diving, with Ella Roselli scoring 300.75 on 1-meter and XingYu Liu leading three 300-point scorers on 3-meter in 341.25.
Cincinnati’s best performances came from Jessica Davis. She finished second to Peplowski in the IM in 2:01.27 and in the 50 free in 22.77.
Finn Brooks showed his versatility on the men’s side. He went 51.13 to win the 100 breast, then 45.15 to claim the 100 fly. He led off the winning 200 free relay in 19.24, faster than Vidar Carlbaum’s race-best 19.88 in the 50.
The Hoosiers kept things interesting by splitting up relays. Brooks teamed with Carlbaum, Gavin Wright and Dylan Smiley to win the 200 free relay in 1:18.01, beating a team that included Luke Barr’s 18.97 split by three tenths. The Hoosiers’ A 200 medley won by .14 with Barr, Jassen Yep, Tomer Frankel and Brian Benzing, despite a 19.14 from Smiley on the anchor of the B team.
Barr was second in the 50 free in 20.11 after posting the fastest time in the 200 free at 1:33.62, .09 ahead of Frankel. Owen McDonald’s time of 1:58.14 tied teammate Alexei Avakov in the 200 breast. Avakov was second in the 100 to Brooks. Cooper McDonald (48.22) edged Carlbaum by two tenths in the 100 back, then secured the 200 IM in 1:46.64. Quinn Henninger swept diving. Saadeddin Saadeddin (1,650 free), Raekwon Noel (200 fly), Max Lestina (100 free) and Leonardo Pelaez (500 free) each set the fastest times in their respective events.
Cincinnati got a legitimate win via Hunter Gubeno in the 200 back with a time of 1:41.20, more than three seconds ahead of the field. Owen Chiles placed second in the 200 IM, four tenths behind Cooper McDonald.
