TCU roars to men's and women's NIC titles; UDel's Currie breaks CAA record in 200 backstroke

2024 NATIONAL INVITATION CHAMPIONSHIPS

TCU's Horned Frogs scored a victory on the final day of the 2024 NIC Championships, earning a combined four victories to capture the men's and women's team titles Saturday in Ocala.

The men had a dominant victory, winning by 237.5 points over Queens, while the women had their best day of the competition on Saturday to defeat Akron and win by 30.5.

Final team scores

Top 5 women:

1. TCU – 619
2. Akron – 588.5
3. Kentucky – 552
4. Queens – 438
5. UCSD–421

Top 5 men:

1. TCU – 859
2. Queens – 621.5
3. Grand Canyon – 558.5
4. Oakland – 554
5. Kentucky – 521.5

Full team scores available in full competition results linked at top

The Akron women, who entered the day with a 34.5-point lead, dealt the first blow in the team battle on the day Rebecca Reid won the 100 IM with a new meet record of 54.56. This race pushed their lead past 50 points.

TCU fought back in the 200 backstroke, even without a win.Tori Burger of Kentucky won with a new best time of 1:54.59, but TCU had two in the top seven, led byTania Qualgiéri in 2nd place in 1:55.17.

The Horned Frogs secured their first victory of the competition in record fashion whenNina Vadovicova won the 200 breaststroke in 2:10.65, setting a new meet record.

They finished the meet with a final victory in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:17.43 to seal the team title, including a 49.08 anchor leg ofOlivia Rhodes.

The TCU men, meanwhile, entered the final day with a narrow 23-point lead ahead of Queens and blew the doors off, racking up three event victories to extend the final lead by over 200 more points.

It started with a victory in the 1000 freestyle by a 22-year-old sophomore Aaron Williamseven if he could not hold the double over the distance.

The free distance races were swum as a single event, but with points awarded for the swimmer's rank at the 1,000 yard mark and then the final 1,650 yard mark. This made for a relatively interesting race, where some swimmers were clearly aiming for the 1000 and then trying to hold on for the 1650.

Wilmes won the 1,000 freestyle in 9:14.94, about 1.3 seconds ahead of Seton Hall.Clil Halevi. This is Wilmes' best free 1000 of the season. After this turn, however, he eased off the throttle a bit, while Halevi, who was absenta lot slower than Wilmes (three seconds in the 200, four in the 400) still had plenty left in the tank.

He posted some of his best course times in the last 650, ultimately battling back against Halevi to win in 15:17.01. That was two seconds ahead of runner-up Wilmes, 15:19.02.

TCU went from there.Jérémie Freri won the 100 IM in 47.72, a new meet record, in the next race. Later in the session,Guilherme Camossato won the 200 breaststroke in 1:54.78, about a half-second ahead of Grand Canyon'sJonathan Rome (1:55.35).

The Queens didn't have the depth to keep up with TCU on Saturday, but they still managed a few parting shots off the senior's back.Matej Dusa. He first won the 100 free in 42.24, breaking his own meet record of 42.56 set last season. This swim was just 0.01 seconds shy of his lifetime best in the event.

It was his fourth victory of the meet, and he finished his race with his fifth in the 400 freestyle relay. There, he led Queens in 42.64 while the Royals finished in 2:52.25, another record to end the weekend.

Other winners and notables from Day 3:

• In the women's 1000/1650 split race, UCSDJulie Arzave tookboth groceries. She first won the 1000 freestyle in 9:53.66, two seconds ahead of Queens'Sophie Long. Lange managed to take it back a bit over the last 650 meters, but ultimately Arzave had just enough fuel to hold on and win in 16:19.80. Lange finished 2nd in 16:20.54. Later in the match, Arazave's teammateAsia Kozan earned her second victory of the meet by winning the 200 fly in 1:58.20.
• Delaware earned its first victory of the competition whenGavin Currie swam 1:41.69 to not only swim a personal best, but also break the Delaware, CAA and NIC records in the race. A junior, Currie will be back next season and will need to find a little more than a second in his senior year to earn an NCAA bid. It was one of several Delaware school records to fall that day.Matthew Namakonov broke the 100 freestyle record to win the B final in 43.55, erasing the preliminary round record set byAddison Collins in 44.17.Victoria Novinski broke the school record in the women's 200m final in 1:58.76.
• The first and last championship tie of the meet occurred in the men's 200 butterfly where Dartmouth'sYan Dvoretsky and the queensYannick Plasil tied in 1:43.99. Dvoretskiy's co-title came a day after he broke Dartmouth records in the 100 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.