WOOSTER, Ohio -- The men's and women's swimming programs at Shawnee State enjoyed an excellent performance collectively on the opening day of the three-day Wooster Invitational Thursday evening, with the men's 200 yard freestyle relay 'A' group of
Kutay Ababay,
Josiah Changar,
Tony Goodwin and
Malik Nelson hitting a NAIA National Standard in the event with a blistering fast pace of 1:25.15 to head up a terrific day.
Along with Shawnee State's men's 200 yard freestyle relay group, a total of six individuals all hit NAIA provisional standards in the 50 yard freestyle -- as Shawnee State's
De-Nicha Lewis posted a strong 24.03 to place as the 50 yard freestyle runner-up on the women's side while five men -- Changar, Goodwin, Nelson,
Evan Ater and
Kutay Ababay -- all posted a NAIA provisional cut time in the 50 yard freestyle to punctuate a fantastic day for
Tricia Boggs' men's and women's swimming programs at the Chris Mathew Aquatics Center in Wooster.
MEN
Shawnee State got a masterful performance from the quartet of Ababay, Changar, Goodwin and Nelson right off the rip -- with the SSU 'A' 200 yard freestyle relay group posting the now-15th fastest time in the entire NAIA realm with their 1:25.15 in the event. Nelson, who swam the last leg of the relay, posted the fastest split time of any individual in the event, as his 20.51 was over two-tenths of a second faster than the next-fastest split time.
The quartet also swam faster than a future conference foe that they will be joining -- as NCAA Division II Mountain East Conference member Frostburg State was over seven-tenths of a second slower with a 1:25.92.
Along with the SSU 'A' squad scoring 56 points with its runner-up showing in the 200 yard freestyle relay -- second only to NCAA Division III Mount Union's 1:24.52 -- the Shawnee State 'B' squad ripped off a 1:27.93 as the foursome of Ater, Robert Gibson,
Josiah Ramdeen and
Alex Ray put together the second-fastest time of any 'B' group in the event. The group beat five 'A' units representing the states of Michigan, Massachusetts and Ohio and scored another 46 points by themselves.
A total of five people also recorded standout preliminary times in the 50 yard freestyle -- with Nelson (21.20), Changar (21.30) and Ater (21.54) setting NAIA provisional cut times in the prelims and finals with Ababay (21.56) and Goodwin (21.69) setting a provisional cut in prelims. The quintet combined for another 100 points in the 50 free -- with Nelson (third), Changar (fifth) and Ater (eighth) finishing in the top-10 of the 24-swimmer field.
WOMEN
Â
Lewis, who posted one of the best performances of her career in the 50 free, swam a 24.03 to match the 11th-fastest time in the NAIA this season with her provisional cut in the event. The senior was just one of four swimmers on Thursday to post a time underneath 24.50 in the event -- and added 28 points to Shawnee State's team total in doing so.
Lewis then teamed with
Abigail Bosler,
Kaylee France and
Mercedes Mwebeiha to click off a third-place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay, with the group swimming a 1:40.73 -- just over seven-tenths back of the winning time of 1:40.02 set by Mount Union. As with the men's team, the women saw similar success in bettering future conference foe Frostburg State, swimming two seconds faster than the Bobcats in the event -- while adding in 54 points to SSU's group count.
Bosler's seventh-place finish in the 24-swimmer 200 yard individual medley (2:17.20) rounded out the list of strong performances by both sides on Day 1. The senior contributed another 23 points to the effort.
ADDITIONAL
Â
Team-wise, Shawnee State's men sit fourth of 10 teams -- and have outpointed Frostburg State (Md.) by a 326-286 count -- while the SSU women sit sixth at 185 tallies.
Both the men's and women's swimming programs at Shawnee State return to action for the second day of the Wooster Invitational Friday morning at 10 a.m. (prelims) and Friday evening at 6 p.m. (finals).
