West Virginia had just as many finalists as Texas had pool records on Wednesday at the Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championships.
Senior Danny Berlitz, sophomore Mia Cheatwood, and freshman Ian McKinney each broke into the top eight swimmers Wednesday morning. Berlitz ranked fifth in preliminaries for the men’s 200 IM while Cheatwood and McKinney ranked seventh in the women’s 200 IM and men’s 500 freestyle respectively.
In finals, the swimmers stayed consistent with their prelim times. Berlitz finished .98 seconds faster to place fifth overall, while Cheatwood and McKinney dropped to eighth place despite minimal time increases.
Berlitz’s 1:43.94 finish broke his own school record for the men’s 200 IM from last year. The record marks the second record event time set in this year’s championships, pairing with Mia Cheatwood’s 200 breaststroke record finish in Tuesday’s time trials.
Cheatwood’s finals time came in .82 seconds slower than in prelims, while McKinney’s increased by 2.35 seconds. Both swimmers were passed in the final 50 yards, bumping them from seventh place to eighth.
Improving significantly from the morning to the evening, though, was Olympic qualifier Ivan Puskovitch. Puskovitch, who is best acquainted with 10k marathon swimming, competed in the 500-yard freestyle on Wednesday but missed the mark to compete alongside McKinney in the finals.
Ahead of McKinney’s top-eight heat, though, Puskovitch swam in the second best group of preliminary finishers. The graduate student finished the race in 4:22.83, which would have put him in fourth after prelims and in fifth place in the finals.
Also competing Wednesday evening for WVU was the women’s diving team, which placed finished last of the eight schools. WVU scored 251.05 points, just short of Cincinnati’s 255.35 total.
Headlining the championships once again were the Texas Longhorns on day two. In Wednesday’s seven individual events, Texas had all but one top-three medalist, with the exception being BYU’s Jordan Tiffany, who took bronze in the men’s 200 IM.
Three of Texas’s first-place finishers set Aquatic Center records, with freshman Will Modglin finishing the 200 IM in 1:41.01, senior Coby Carrozza breaking his own pool record in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:11.95, and fifth year Kelly Pash also breaking her own record in the 200 IM, finishing in 1:53.8.
Pash’s first place finish earned her fifth straight Big 12 Championship title in the women’s 200 IM. Pash is also the reigning Big 12 Champion in the 100 freestyle and 400 IM, which have yet to take place this year.
Texas also placed first in the women’s team diving event, scoring 376.2 points. The Longhorns outscored the second-place Kansas Jayhawks by 51.4 points, a greater margin than that between Kansas and the sixth-place TCU Horned Frogs.
With 27 top-eight swimmers on Wednesday and six team victories between the first two days’ relay and diving events, Texas is easily on pace to win its 28th consecutive men’s title and 12th consecutive women’s title (22nd total).
The Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championships continue all week through March 2. Day three preliminary rounds kick off at 9:15 Thursday morning with finals starting at 5:15 that evening.
Current Team Standings:
Men’s:
1. Texas Longhorns – 707 points
2. TCU Horned Frogs – 428 points
3. BYU Cougars – 397 points
4. West Virginia Mountaineers – 344.5 points
5. Cincinnati Bearcats – 340.5 points
Women’s:
1. Texas Longhorns – 571 points
2. TCU Horned Frogs – 317 points
3. Houston Cougars – 273.5 points
4. BYU Cougars – 258 points
5. Cincinnati Bearcats – 257 points
6. West Virginia Mountaineers – 251 points
T-7. Kansas Jayhawks – 194 points
T-7. Iowa State Cyclones – 194 points
Photo from WVU Swimming & Diving Championships
