Guins Head To Horizon League Swimming & Diving Championships
2/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
The Youngstown State swimming and diving team will compete at the Horizon League Championships this Wednesday through Saturday. Oakland is hosting the 2016 Championships at their Aquatic Center in Rochester, Mich.
Oakland has won the past two Horizon League Championships while Milwaukee was second. In 2015, YSU was sixth, just 18 points behind Wright State for fifth.
Last year at the Horizon League meet, Youngstown State had 11 finals participants who have returned to swim and dive for the Penguins this week. The swimmers are Madison Aranda, Katrina Gerbrand, Viktoria Orosz, Jana Janson, Hannah Reynolds, Stefane van Niekerk, and Kolbrun Jonsdottir. The divers are McKenzie Stelter, Megan Siford, Lydia Scheringer, and Bethany Glick. Also returning to the lineup is diver Bec Stafford, who missed last year's championships, but has two second-place finishes and a third in her two trips to the HL meet.
At the 2015 Horizon League Championships, Aranda had three top-five placings. She swam in the 1,000-yard freestyle (second, 10:05.10), and the 1,650-yard freestyle (fourth, 17:09.64) and in the 500-yard freestyle (fifth, 4:26.27).
Entering this year's meet, Aranda ranks fourth in the 200 fly (2:04.00) and fifth in the 500 free (4:59.20) and the 1,650 free (17:17.04). The 1,000 free will not be contested this year.
Orosz, who has battled injuries this season, competed in three event finals and placed in the top three in all of them. She swam in the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and the 200-yard backstroke. In the 200 free, she finished second with a time of 1:48.78. In the 500 free she placed third with a finals time of 4:53.86. Lastly, in the 200-yard back, she placed third with a time of 2:00.68.
Reynolds reached the championship final in the 100-yard backstroke placing sixth in the event with a time of 1:04.71. Janson competed in one consolation final at last year's championships. She swam in the 100-yard butterfly and finished 13th with a time of 57.38 seconds.
Jonsdottir and van Niekerk also competed in the Horizon League Championships last year in the relay events. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, it was the team of Jonsdottir, Janson, Aranda and Orosz finishing fifth with a time of 1:35.09.Then in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Orosz, Jonsdottir, Aranda and Janson placed fifth with a time of 3:28.51. Finally in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the tandem of Aranda, van Niekerk, Jonsdottir and Orosz also placed fifth with a finishing time of 7:36.57.
Stelter paced the divers last year with a pair of fifth-place finishes. Scheringer was in the top 10 in both events while Sifort was eighth in the one-meter.
Schedule of Events (women's only)
Wednesday
200-yard medley relay
800-yard freestyle relay
Thursday
500-yard freestyle
200-yard IM
50-yard freestyle
1-Meter Diving
200-yard freestyle relay
Friday
400-yard IM
100-yard butterfly
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
100-yard backstroke
400-yard medley relay
Saturday
1,650-yard freestyle
200-yard backstroke
100-yard freestyle
200-yard breaststroke
200-yard butterfly
3-Meter Diving
400-yard freestyle relay
