University of Northern Iowa
West Virginia Invitational
UNI swim and dive sets three school records at West Virginia Invitational
11/19/2023 5:58:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. --- UNI swimming and diving made a statement in Morgantown this weekend taking home a seventh-place team finish over the course of three fiercely competitive days with three school records broken in the pool.
Thursday's preliminary rounds kicked off with a 500-yard freestyle from Olivia Chambers, who qualified for the C-final after a 5:02.01 performance. In the finals, Chambers not only swam a personal best, but she also broke the Para American Record for the S13 500-freestyle with a 4:58.42. Amber Finke followed with a ninth place finish in the 200-yard individual medley, and a personal best time of 2:01.74.
Faith Larsen once again took home a first place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a 22.54 in Thursday night's finals, after a dominating sprint in the preliminary for an A-final qualification. Abby Lear also notched an A-final qualification, and finished eighth overall in the 50-yard freestyle (23.72). Morgan Meyer qualified for the B-final in the 50-yard freestyle, and took home an eleventh place overall finish (23.64). Larsen, Lear, Finke, and Meyer joined forces for a record-breaking performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay, in a quick 1:31.35, to take first in both the West Virginia Invite, and the UNI leaderboard.
Rounding out Thursday night was a 400-yard medley relay, with Finke and Larsen being joined by Sydney Aird and Scout Bergwall for a fifth place finish in 3:44.29, beating their previous best time of 3:45.68.Â
Friday began with Berwall qualifying for the finals in the 100-yard fly, swimming a 55.79 to place thirteenth. Chambers followed up with another finals qualification in the 400-yard individual medley (4:30.44), and brought that down by nearly three seconds in the finals to lower the Para American record to 4:27.77. Meyer clinched a B-final qualification in the 200-yard free, and also placed thirteenth in Friday night's finals with a 1:51.34. For the 100-yard breast, Aird led the panthers for an 18th place finish in 1:04.84.Â
Finke dominated the 100-yard backstroke in both the preliminary and final rounds on Friday, breaking the school record in the preliminary with a 54.04, and then crushing it again in the final with a 53.73. Friday night's excitement ended with a sixth place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay from Finke, Meyer, Lear, and Chambers (7:33.08), to put the Panthers in seventh place leading into Saturday.Â
On the final day of competition, Finke led off with an impressive first place victory in the 200-yard back, beating second place Fede Nocera of Drexel by over three seconds, and breaking yet another UNI school record. Larsen kept the winning streak going in the finals by taking gold in the 100-yard freestyle in 49.72, her first performance under 50.00. Aird finished Saturday night's finals with a 17th place spot in the 200-yard breast (2:19.57), and Sydney Hall led UNI in the 200-yard fly with a 29th place finish overall in 2:08.61. The Panthers ended the Invitational on a high note, as the 400-yard freestyle relay took home the final victory of the night, swimming a 3:23.03. The combination of Finke, Meyer, Lear and Larsen now hold the 2nd place spot for all UNI in the 400 freestyle relay.Â
In the diving well, the Panthers had their first experience on platform, where freshmen Trista Thompson led the Panthers with a 15th place finish with a score of 173.80. Erica Peters followed with a 152.25 for 17th place on the platform. Abby Hutchins took 17th in the 1-meter dive, with a 221.25, and Hannah Taylor with a 214.65 for a 28th place overall finish in the 3-meter dive. In the team diving event, the team of Peters, Taylor, and Hutchins finished sixth overall with a score 234.20.
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UP NEXT
UNI swimming returns to action as Faith Larsen prepares to compete at the Toyota U.S. Open in Greensboro, North Carolina, November 29 through December 2. Panther divers return to the pool on Saturday, December 16 for the Panther Diving Invitational in Cedar Falls inside the Glen F. Henry Pool.
Players Mentioned
