The Case Western Reserve University men’s and women’s swimming teams attended the Total Performance Invitational at the Steen Aquatic Center in Gambier, Ohio from Nov. 16-18. The dive team then drove to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to attend the Diving Invitational.

During the Invitational, the CWRU teams set a total of 13 school records across the three-day invitational. On the first day, in the 400 medley relay, second-years Emil LaSida, John Drumm, Mason Bencurik and fourth-year Ethan Chuang set a new school record with a time of 3:18.26. They bested the previous record that had been set at the 2023 Midwest Invite earlier that year. CWRU also recorded an NCAA B cut time and placed fifth in the race. In the same race, the women’s team recorded a B Cut with a time of 3:50.47 and also placed fifth in the event. The women also set a school record in the 200 free relay with second-years Claire Kozma and Eliza Dixon as well as third-years Kelly Vann and Gabriella Chambers. They beat the record by .90 seconds which had been previously set earlier that year in the 2023 University Athletic Association Championships. A time of 1:34.05 got them second place in the event and set an NCAA B cut time. For the 50 free, Kozma finished with a final time of 23.64 seconds which awarded her fourth place, and she earned the highest individual finish for a Spartan swimmer.

On the second day of the Total Performance Invite, the Spartans set five school records. Third-year Peter Meng set two of the records, one in the 200 free and one in the 400 individual medley. Meng broke the program record in the individual medley with a time of 3:57.44, beating a previous record set in 2017. In the 200 free he bested his own record set earlier that season. He also joined Drumm, Bencurik and third-year Stephen Hogeman in the relay, placing third in the event with a B Cut time of 6:43.14. Bencurik placed fourth in the 200 medley relay and set a record, earning a B Cut with a time of 1:29.66 and beating the previous record set at the 2023 Midwest Invitational. For the women’s team, Kozma also broke a school record with a 55.46 second finish time in the 100 fly, and recorded a NCAA B cut time. This finish time was .08 seconds faster than the previous record held in 2014. Third-year Kate Menzer also placed fourth in the event. The team also set a record in the 800 free relay with Kozma, Chambers, third-year Angeli Paull and first-year Maggie Rose Rook.

On the last day of the competition, CWRU ended the performance with six new school records. Drumm won the 200 fly with a school record time of 1:47.11. He beat his own previous program best time during the 2023 UAA Championship. He also recorded an NCAA B cut time for the event. Third-year Kevin Hu, second-years Adam Khatib and Joshua Hernandez earned 10th, 14th and 16th, respectively. Bencurik broke fourth-year Andrew Smith’s record in the 100 free with a time of 45.29 seconds and placed fifth in the race. Meng completed the first 1,000 yards of the 1650 free and bested his own time from the previous 2022 Magnus Cup. He also completed the race with an NCAA B cut time and placed in fifth place. The men’s swim team also set a school record in the 400 free relay with Drumm, Bencurik, Meng and LaSida. On the women’s team, first-year Ava Ellis touched the wall at 2:23.60 in the 200 breaststroke, beating the previous time from a 2018 UAA championship. The team also set a record in the 400 free relay with Kozma, Paull, Menzer and Chambers, beating the previous 2023 UAA Championship time. Kozma placed second in the 100 free and earned a B Cut time with 51.43 seconds. Overall both teams placed fourth out of eight teams, the men’s team with 1,140 points and the women’s team with 1,138.5 points.

For the diving team at the CMU invitational, third-year Abigail Wilkov won the 1-meter dive with 469.85 points. For the men’s team, third-year Alex Waltman placed fourth in the 3-meter dive with 416 points. Wilkov earned her second UAA Women’s Diver of the Week following her performance at the CMU Diving Invite. On their second day, Wilkov finished fourth in the 3-meter dive with 413.85 points, third-year Jocelyn Schechter was sixth (392.60) and fourth-year Rei Miyauchi placed seventh (390.60).

This meet marks the end of the competition for the Spartan swimming and diving teams in 2023. The teams will be returning next semester in their first dual meet on Jan. 20 in New York.