Ohio State Sweeps Virginia Tech in Two-Day Meet; Panitz, Jankovics Shine
Over a two-day meet in at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, the Ohio State Buckeyes took care of Virginia Tech, with head coach Bill Dorenkott’s group beating out the Hokie women 226-135, in large part thanks to Josie Panitz winning three individual events, and the men won 193.5-178.5 thanks to Tristan Jankovics plus depth and diving.
Ohio State opened Friday’s action with a 1-2 finish in the 200 free relay, with Teresa Ivan, Katherine Zenick, Nyah Funderburke and Amy Fulmer leading the way in 1:30.26. Panitz then opened the individual action with a pair of wins in the 200 IM (2:00.36) and 100 breaststroke (1:00.13) while Maya Geringer topped the 500 free (4:54.96). Fulmer won the 100 freestyle (49.06), and Jessica Eden paced the field in the 200 butterfly (2:01.18).
Lena Hentschel captured wins in 3-meter diving (343.30) and 1-meter diving (340.75), and day one concluded with Funderburke, Panitz, Zenick and Fulmer winning the 400 medley relay in 3:37.51, with the Buckeyes again placing 1-2.
Day two started out with more of the same as Funderburke, Hannah Bach, Zenick and Amy Fulmer went 1:39.03 for a 200 medley relay win, and then Eden won the 400 IM (4:17.28) in a 1-2-3-4 finish for OSU. Morgan Kraus won the 100 fly (54.03), and Panitz earned her third individual win of the competition in the 200 breast (2:14.09).
An extremely tight women’s 100 back race went to Fulmer in 53.96, with the Virginia Tech duo of Carmen Weiler Sastre (54.07) and Caroline Bentz (54.07) as well as Kraus (54.14) just behind. Ivan topped the 50 free by almost nine tenths in 22.67, and the 1000 free went to Gwen Woodbury (9:56.79). In platform diving, Janie Boyle won for Ohio State (282.00) before Fulmer, Ivan, Tristan Harrison and Zenick cruised to a 3;18.49 400 free relay win.
Virginia Tech’s women got a tie from Bentz and Weiler Sastre in the 200 backstroke, with both clocking 1:56.77. The following day, Weiler Sastre won the 200 free in 1:49.04 as she overtook Bentz on the final 50, but Bentz held on for a Hokie 1-2 finish.
The Ohio State men opened up with Jankovics winning the 200 IM in 1:46.11, and soon after, he topped the 200 back in 1:44.77. Alex Metzler led a 1-2-3 finish in the 500 free (4:27.04), and Chachi Gustafson did the same in the 200 fly, his time of 1:47.58 finishing ahead of teammates Metzler and Caleb Ellis. In day one diving, Mo Noaman won 3-meter (384.75) and Lyle Yost finished first on 1-meter (427.05).
Jankovics opened day two with his third individual win, a 3:50.66 triumph in the 400 IM, and Ruslan Gaziev came from behind to beat out Whitfield in the 200 free, 1:36.08 to 1:36.32. But it was depth that sustained Ohio State throughout the day before Yost won platform diving (400.10) and the team of Daniel Baltes, Tomas Navikonis, JP Khouzam and Gaziev won the 400 free relay in 2:54.96, concluding the meet with the only men’s relay OSU would win over the two days. The Buckeyes trailed both Virginia Tech teams at the final exchange, but Gaziev split 42.64 to pull ahead and earn the win.
The Hokie men were potent in the relays. Carles Coll Marti, Brendan Whitfield William Hayon and Youssef Ramadan won the 200 free relay in 1:18.75, with Ramadan holding off Gaziev’s blazing 18.85 anchor split for VT to win by four tenths. Coll Marti led a VT 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breast, with his 54.29 beating teammates AJ Pouch and Cobi Lopez Miro. Whitfield out-touched Gaziev by one hundredth to win the 100 free, 43.67 to 43.68, with Ramadan third (44.06). The Hokies closed day one with another relay win, this one in dominant fashion as Ramadan, Coll Marti, Mario Molla Yanes and Whitfield went 3:11.09 in the 400 medley.
A third relay win opened Saturday’s action, with the same medley relay team topping the 200-yard event in 1:26.22. Molla Yannes won the 100 fly (47.66), and Coll Marti won his second event of the meet in the 200 breast (1:56.23), with Pouch and Joseph Hong going 2-3 for Virginia Tech before Ramadan dominated Jankovics in the 100 back, 47.26 to 48.66. Coll Marti won again in the 50 free (20.05, over Gaziev’s 20.10), and Nico Garcia led the way in the 1000 free (9:13.39).