This past weekend saw the Case Western Reserve University wrestling and swim and dive teams compete at their respective UAA championships, putting up a series of strong performances.
Wrestling
Fourth-year Art Martinez led the Spartan wrestling charge at the UAA championship in New York on Sunday night, earning the title of Most Outstanding Wrestler at the competition, as he went 2-0 in his bouts at the meet. Martinez is the eighth Spartan to receive this honor and the first since Isaac Dukes in 2011.
Opening with a 19-2 win by technical foul against the University of Chicago’s Matteo Littman, before defeating New York University’s Jacob Venezia by pin in 1:05, Martinez also received all UAA-honors for the first time in his collegiate career. Likewise, fellow fourth-year Thomas Wagner also received all-UAA honors at this meet. Wagner’s path to this honor also involved a pair of wins, first against UChicago’s Dan Gunlogson by sudden-victory and the second against NYU’s Robert Leeds by 3-0.
Overall, CWRU encountered stiff competition at the UAA championship, facing a pair of losses against Chicago (33-11) and NYU (33-19), consequently coming in last place in the tournament. Nonetheless, the team was able to prove their worth through the performances of Martinez and Wagner in addition to other wrestlers; first-year Hunter Keane and second-years Chase Crutchley and Robert Minden all added wins for the Spartan squad during their time in New York.
The wrestling team will be back on the mat on Saturday, Feb. 21 as a contingent of their wrestlers head to Adrian, Michigan for the Regional Futures Invitational hosted by Adrian College. The following Friday (Feb. 27), the NCAA Region V Tournament will commence in University Heights, Ohio.
Swim and dive
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams turned in a series of strong performances over their four days of competition at the UChicago’s Ratner Athletics Center. On the first day of the meet (Wednesday, Feb. 11), the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay team of fourth-years Mason Bencurik and John Drumm, second-year Owen Miao and first-year Trevor Novak set a new school record of 6:36.58, securing a NCAA B cut time; this puts all four swimmers one step closer to an invitation to the NCAA Championships in March. The women’s team for this event—consisting of fourth-year Claire Kozma, third-years Maggie Rose Rook and Ava Ellis and second-year Anna Brown—also turned in a strong performance, achieving a B cut time of 7:32.87. Kozma also secured a B cut time in the 200-yard freestyle, setting the tone for a strong start to her weekend. Alongside those swims, first-year diver Ryan Wells earned his own B cut qualifying score on the 3-meter dive.
Day two saw the Spartans’s momentum continue as they achieved several more accomplishments in different events. The 200-yard freestyle relay group of Novak, Bencurik and fourth-years William Froass and Ben Borvendeg accomplished a new school record time of 1:22.07 while Drumm notched a B cut time in the 500-yard freestyle.
On the women’s side, Kozma, first-year Sohalya Rawlins, second-year Marina Oria and fourth-year Eliza Dixon achieved a third-place finish in their 200-yard freestyle relay race with a time of 1:33.66. The quartet’s performance earned all of them UAA honors—Kozma’s third of her career, Dixon’s second and the first for Rawlins and Oria.
Kozma continued leading the way for the Spartan women on day three of competition as she achieved a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, earning another B cut time. Meanwhile, the group of Dixon, Oria, second-year Sayjel Tan and fourth-year Julia Cho worked together towards a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay to give the Spartans further points on the leaderboard. As for the men’s team, the divers continued to shine as Wells dropped a fourth-place finish and NCAA qualifying score in the one-meter dive while third-year Jack Rudofsky finished seventh in the same event.
On the fourth and final day of the championships, both the men’s and women’s teams turned in a series of strong performances to cap off their time in Chicago. Several school records were set by the men’s team on day four: second-year Edgar Rutkauskas set a record in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:00.85, beating the previous record of 2:01.30. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the quartet of Novak, Bencurik, Froass and Drumm achieved a time of 2:59.79 narrowly breaking a record set at last year’s UAA Championships, while Novak would continue his streak with a new 100-yard freestyle record of 44.88 seconds. All three records also qualified for B cut times for all involved swimmers. Meanwhile, Kozma continued her strong performance for the women’s team as she achieved a B cut time in the 100-yard freestyle in addition to a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in tandem with Dixon, Oria and Rawlins.
In the end, the men’s and women’s teams both placed sixth out of eight teams at the event. Though this end result may not have been a desired one for the Spartans, the path to it is still lined with numerous accomplishments from swimmers and divers across both teams.
The next meet for both teams will be the Spartan Invite on Friday, Feb. 20 and Saturday, Feb. 21 at Veale Natatorium. The meet will offer the Spartans one final chance to record qualifying times for the NCAA Championship.