Swimming Wraps Up OSU Invite on High Note
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Miami Hurricanes swimming team wrapped up its run at the Ohio State Invitational on a high note Sunday, delivering its best day of competition at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
“Overall we had a lot of good performances, and I’m really happy with the meet overall,” head coach Andy Kershaw said. “We saw a lot of great things, and learned a lot about ourselves.”
Competing in a talented field that included the host Buckeyes, Florida, Kentucky and Washington State, Miami finished the weekend with 361 points.
“We learned more about where we’re at, what we need to do, and some of the different things we need to work on to get even better,” Kershaw said. “But we walked away with seven meet cuts, which was great.”
Junior Christina Leander, who set Miami’s school record in the 100-yard backstroke over the weekend, earned the top finish in the “B” final of the 200 backstroke with a NCAA “B” cut time of 1:57.70.
“It’s the fifth time that record has been broken in the last three years, and it was great to see Christina continue that success,” Kershaw said. “We finished with our strongest session, which is a great sign, and it’s something we’ve really been working on. Christina was certainly one of the standouts.”
Sophomore Ksenia Yuskova once again proved a strong force for Miami with a top finish in the “B” final of the 100 freestyle (50.10), while senior My Fridell took fourth in the same heat (50.96).
“My was right up there this weekend, and showed a lot of people why she’s our senior captain,” Kershaw said. “Ksenia also had a lot of great swims.”
One area where Kershaw and the Hurricanes have focused efforts is depth, and it paid off Sunday.
“The lack of ability to train long course this year up to this point with pool renovations, has made things a little difficult, and we seem to be on fire on short-course finals which was good,” Kershaw said. “From our depth end, we saw a lot of improvement there too – I think we had three swimmers finish with best times by three seconds, which is pretty significant at this point in the season.”
Freshman Roxanne Yu took third in the “B” final of 200 backstroke with an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:59.11, while junior Julia Schippert added one of her own with a finish of 2:14.70 in the “B” Final of the 200 breaststroke.
Algee posted a “B” cut time of 1:58.68 in the 200 butterfly, while sophomore Jessica Hurley placed ninth in the same heat with a time of 2:03.77.
The Hurricanes will have some time off for Thanksgiving before returning for December training.
“Point-wise, we came up a little short which was disappointing, but I think we understand what we need to do to continue working on that end, and we’re excited to do it,” Kershaw said. “We’ll get back to celebrate Thanksgiving, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Then we head towards the spring after we have a great December of training.”
