INDIANA, Pa. – The IUP swimming teams put together a full day of competition Thursday at the Pidgeon Natatorium, competing in both the Crimson Hawks Fall Invitational and IUP Sprint Frenzy.
The IUP women captured the team title at the Fall Invitational with 421.5 points, edging Clarion's 399.5. Gannon finished third with 365 points. The IUP men placed third with 365 points behind Gannon and Clarion.
IUP opened the Fall Invitational with a victory in the women's 400-yard medley relay. Kasha Stokes, Tina Cudina, Natalie Noll and Sydney Anderson combined for a time of 3:55.14, finishing more than eight seconds ahead of second-place Gannon.
Benedetta Bellini followed with an individual victory in the women's 400 IM, touching in 4:44.08. Isla Moore finished third in 4:45.42 and Summer Esson was fourth in 4:46.09, giving IUP three of the top four finishers.
Freshman Zen Schaetzle provided an individual win for the IUP men, taking the 100 butterfly in 51.17. He edged Gannon's Kaidan Helmeczi by .32 seconds.
Stokes added another victory for the Crimson Hawks in the women's 100 backstroke, posting a time of 58.71. Noll followed in third at 1:00.14.
Cudina continued IUP's strong day with a convincing victory in the women's 100 breaststroke. She touched in 1:04.93, nearly four seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
The Crimson Hawks also collected several runner-up performances during the Fall Invitational. Casey Kupka finished second in the men's 400 IM at 4:17.06, with Trent Powell third at 4:17.98. Cally Edner and Ava Keever went second and third in the women's 500 freestyle, while Ty Uhlig took second in the men's 500 freestyle.
IUP closed the Fall Invitational with runner-up finishes in both 400 freestyle relays. Anderson, Cudina, Esson and Noll posted a 3:37.89 on the women's side, while Bartosz Mielniczuk, Schaetzle, Nick Vaow and Powell finished the men's race in 3:09.94, just .41 seconds behind Gannon.
The Crimson Hawks carried that success into the Sprint Frenzy.
Stokes, Cudina, Noll and Esson opened the meet by winning the women's 200 medley relay in 1:47.90.
Cudina turned in one of IUP's top individual performances of the meet, sweeping the women's sprint freestyle events. She won the 100 freestyle in 52.10 before taking the 50 freestyle in 23.80.
Schaetzle also completed a strong day with another victory, winning the men's 50 butterfly in 23.16. Riley Yute followed in sixth at 23.80.
Noll won the women's 50 backstroke in 27.84, while Esson finished fourth and Bella Rhoades placed seventh.
Stokes added her second individual victory of the day in the women's 200 freestyle, touching first in 2:00.48. Moore followed in third at 2:02.95, with Edner fourth.
Uhlig led an IUP 1-2 finish in the men's 200 freestyle, winning in 1:46.63. Ethan Woycehoski finished just .02 seconds behind his teammate at 1:46.65.
The IUP men capped the Sprint Frenzy with a victory in the 200 freestyle relay. Mielniczuk, Schaetzle, Logan Ames and Powell combined for a time of 1:25.03, edging Gannon by just .06 seconds.
IUP finished third in both team standings at the Sprint Frenzy. The women totaled 458 points, while the men finished with 447.
