BOWLING GREEN, Ky.— Closing in on the halfway point in its season, the WKU swimming and diving team will have excellent prep for the Conference USA Championship in February, as it takes on the field at the Louisville Invitational this weekend at Ralph Wright Natatorium.
The event begins on Friday, Nov. 21 with a 9 a.m. CT prelim before finals that night starting at 5 p.m. CT. Saturday and Sunday will have the same order of prelims in the morning and finals later that day.
"We are extremely excited about this weekend, as it gives us an opportunity to go through a three-day conference format," said WKU head coach Bruce Marchionda. "For our new swimmers who have never experienced this before, it is just a great learning tool for them before we actually go to conference and do it again. Besides that, we are just going to have some phenomenal competition. It's going to make for a great environment."
Joining WKU at the Invite is host Louisville, whose men's and women's teams are ranked in the top 25, Connecticut, Missouri State, Southern Illinois and James Madison.
The Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers will look to carry the momentum from strong performances in the first few weeks of the season, including the teams' last outings on the road against Purdue, Vanderbilt and Tulane.
The men's squad fell in a close contest against the Boilermakers. Tyler Groneck notched two first-place finishes, as he clocked in at 21.36 in the 50 free and 48.80 in the 100 fly. Cody Reul took the top time in the 200 free with a time of 1:40.84. In the 200 back, Seth Musser hit the wall first in 1:50.10 while Aymeric Le Corno added first-place points after finishing the 500 free in 4:36.25. Fabian Schwingenschlogl closed out the individual wins, notching a time of 1:51.63 in the 200 IM.
The Lady Toppers recorded top-three finishes in 12 individual events against Vandy and Tulane in Nashville while tabbing the fastest time in each of the relays. Michelle Craddock and Allie Duff each had three individual victories in the competition while newcomers Hannah Musser and Savanah Neddo posted two apiece. Craddock had times of 1:51.21 in the 200 free, 51.19 in the 100 free and 4:56.95 in the 500 free. Duff finished the day with victories of 55.78 in the 100 back, 2:00.82 in the 200 back and 2:05.16 in the 200 IM. Musser tabbed her wins in the 200 fly (2:02.31) and 100 fly (55.04). Neddo did work on the diving boards, hitting scores of 248.93 on the one meter and 244.95 on the three meter to tally the wins.
"I was really pleased with both of the meets," Marchionda said. "Purdue is a top-25 team, and we were able to win half the events there, and many of the guys put in season-best times. Just couldn't ask for a better feel for the meet there. The women took care of business in Nashville—getting two wins. More so, we said after Delta State that this is where we are and we need to get better each week, and probably about 90 percent of them have been better at each meet we have been to. That's very encouraging, and I just like where we are right now."
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