Virginia Tech Records Sweeps of Princeton, Penn State
The Virginia Tech Hokies traveled north to State College, Pa., where Penn State was also welcoming the Princeton Tigers. The Hokies won all four of their dual meets Saturday while Princeton’s women and men were victorious against Penn State.
Women’s Scores:
- Virginia Tech 191, Princeton 109
- Virginia Tech 216, Penn State 84
- Princeton 176.5, Penn State 121.5
Men’s Scores:
- Virginia Tech 173, Princeton 127
- Virginia Tech 193, Penn State 107
- Princeton 178, Penn State 122
The women’s meet opened with Carmen Weiler Sastre, Emily Santos, Athena Meneses Kovacs and Emily Claesson winning the 200 medley relay for Virginia Tech in 1:38.86, with Claesson using an inspired anchor leg to hold off Princeton anchor Ela Noble. Weiler Sastre topped the 100 backstroke (52.15), followed by Santos taking first in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.55).
The Hokies’ Kate Anderson dominated the 1000 free in 9:52.44, and she later won the 500 free as well, clocking 4:49.11. Weiler Sastre’s second win came in the 200 back (1:53.98), and Nichelly Brano Lysy hit the wall first in the 200 breast (2:13.81). Meneses Kovacs finished four hundredths clear of the field in the 100 butterfly.
Weiler Sastre, Claesson, Anna Summers and Meneses Kovacs pulled off another tight relay win to conclude the meet, with Meneses Kovacs overtaking Princeton anchor Natalie Farquhar to win by five hundredths in 3:17.28.
Princeton’s Heidi Smithwick got the win in the 200 fly (1:57.59), and Noble edged Claesson by two hundredths in the 50 free, clocking 22.84. Claesson returned to post a time of 49.31 to finish atop the 100-yard race.
Penn State’s Catherine Meisner led the way in the 200 free (1:46.57), and teammate Margaret Markvardt was the only swimmer to break 2:00 in the 200 IM (1:59.76).
The Hokie men also swept the relays while winning a majority of individual events, with Youssef Ramadan and Carles Coll Marti leading the way. Those two swimmers handled the first half of the 200 medley relay before Mario Molla Yanes and Brendan Whitfield came throughwith a time of 1:23.97, and to conclude the meet, Ramadan, Whitfield, Molla Yanes and Luis Dominguez Calonge clocked 2:50.82 to win the 400 free relay.
Coll Marti won VT’s first individual event of the day with a time of 51.55 in the 100 breast, and Ramadan took the 50 free in 19.16. Whitfield followed up with a time of 42.35 to take the top spot in the 100 free. Molla Yanes pulled away to win the 200 back in 1:42.21, followed by Coll Marti’s second win in the 200 breast (1:52.09).
Dominguez Calonge took the top spot in the 500 free (4:23.10), followed by Ramadan’s triumph in the 100 fly, with the 2023 NCAA champion in the event swimming a time of 44.68 for No. 6 in the current national rankings. Coll Marti came away with a third
Princeton’s Santiago Gutierrez won a tight dual with teammate Connor Buck in the 1000 free, 9:05.62 to 9:05.89. Mitchell Schott topped the 200 free (1:33.31) and 200 fly (1:44.13), and Tyler Hong swam a time of 46.88 for a two-hundredth win in the 100 back, with Penn State’s Cooper Morley falling just short.