Days one and two came and went without a challenger to the mighty Longhorns, but on day three, WVU senior Danny Berlitz put an end to that.
After taking the top spots in 13 straight events on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Texas Longhorns took control of the Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championships with a start likely to secure their 28th men’s and 23rd women’s conference title. On Thursday, though, that streak of dominance was briefly interrupted.
In the third final of the day, Texas failed to take the top spot for the first time in the men’s 100-yard butterfly, as BYU junior Jordan Tiffany set an Aquatics Center record and personal best (44.51 seconds) to win the event.
The Longhorns quickly bounced back, taking all of the top three spots in the women’s 400 IM that followed. The men’s swimmers had to wait a bit longer for their first victory, though, as the hosting WVU Mountaineers took their first event of the tournament.
As the only Mountaineers to make finals on day three, Berlitz and graduate student Ivan Puskovitch made their moment count in the men’s 400 IM.
Berlitz, who finished his prelim race in 3:51.31 to take the top seed, improved his time by more than eight seconds in the final to win again. Puskovitch, the third seed after prelims, had a tightly contested battle with Texas sophomore Alec Enyeart but improved by 4.59 seconds from his morning time to place second behind Berlitz.
Berlitz’s 3:43.02 time in finals was just short of his 3:42.28 program record from last year. Puskovitch’s 3:47.61 was a personal best and put him in fourth place on the all-time Mountaineer rankings.
Texas took all top-three placements in the final three individual events of the day before winning both the men’s and women’s 400 medley relays as well. Nevertheless, WVU showed promise for the remainder of the championships, especially where Berlitz and Puskovitch are concerned.
Puskovitch, a transfer from USC, will be the first WVU men’s swimmer to swim in the Olympics this summer. He placed 14th in the 10k marathon swimming event at the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar earlier this month to qualify.
Berlitz, meanwhile, is no stranger to conference championship success, as he earned top-three spots in four events last year in his first season for WVU. Berlitz also placed fifth in the men’s 200 IM on Wednesday and recorded a program-best leg for the men’s 800 freestyle relay on Tuesday.
Also swimming for the Mountaineers on the day three finals were the men’s and women’s 400 medley relay teams. The women’s team took fifth of eight teams with a time of 3:39.41 while the men grabbed fourth place on a BYU disqualification and a time of 3:12.82.
Representing on the women’s relay team were senior Lilly Culp, sophomores Mia Cheatwood and Ada Szwabinska as well as freshman Delaney Cox. Cheatwood, who swam the breaststroke leg, recorded a program record in the 200 breaststroke on Tuesday and took eighth place in the women’s 200 IM on Wednesday.
Rounding out a successful day three for WVU was senior Roanoke Shirk. Shirk missed the finals mark with the ninth-best recorded preliminary time in the men’s 200 freestyle, putting him in the consolation final on Thursday.
Swimming just before the final round, Shirk won his heat with a time of 1:36.45. After the final, Shirk’s time would have put him in sixth place between BYU’s Payton Plumb and Joshua Reed. The time was .85 seconds faster than the one he recorded in prelims but was still off his program record of 1:35.71.
As a team, the Mountaineers held firm at sixth place in the women’s standings but fell to last place in the men’s standings despite strong showings in the 400 IM. The Big 12 Swimming & Diving Championships continue with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. EST on Friday.
Current Women’s Team Standings
1. Texas – 1,076
2. Houston – 597.50
3. TCU – 584
4. Cincinnati – 458
5. BYU – 411
6. West Virginia – 348
7. Kansas – 323
8. Iowa State – 284
Current Men’s Team Standings
1. Texas – 1,231
2. TCU – 747
3. BYU – 681
4. Cincinnati – 616.50
5. West Virginia – 572.50
Photo from WVU Swimming & Diving
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