Swimming Opens Season at Butler Quad

Sunday, October 2

Fishers, Ind.

12 P.M

Xavier University

Butler Quad Meet

09.30.16 | Swimming

Butler Swimming Info

Double dual meet starts Sunday at Noon

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier Swimming opens up the 2016-17 season on Sunday, Oct. 2 when the Musketeers travel to Fishers, Ind. to take part in the Butler Quad Meet. The five-team meet takes place at Fishers High School, with events beginning at noon.

MEET INFORMATION

· In addition to host Butler's women's squad, Xavier will face off against the men and women of St. Louis, Western Illinois and Wright State.

· Saint Louis opened its season in mid-September at the CSCAA Open Water Nationals in Lawrence, Kan. The Billiken men took third at the event while the women took fifth. In addition to a intrasquad scrimmage, SLU will also face off with Washington University on Friday, Sept. 30.

· This is the first event of the season for Butler, Western Illinois and Wright State.

LAST SEASON

· At last season's Butler Quad, Xavier's women finished in first in at this meet, picking up wins over Evansville, Butler, Wright State and Saint Louis.

· Paxtyn Drew, Caroline Gaertner and Laura Dicus swept the top three spots in the backstroke at last season's event.

· Katie Kerr took the top spot in the 200 free, while Taylor Jach placed third in another sweep of the top three spots for the Musketeers.

· Emily Wagner took second in the 1000 free, trailing only 2016 Xavier graduate Mackenna Rife last year.

· Hanna Martin and Becca Titterton took second and third, respectively, in the 200 breast.

· The Xavier women's relays grabbed two second place finishes, in the 200 medley and 400 free relays.

· Xavier's men took third at the event last season, picking up a win against Evansville while falling to Wright State and Saint Louis.

· Rodrigo Suriano was the top individual scorer for the Xavier men last season, taking first in the 50 free and the 100 free.

· Nick Strader and Alex Wolfred excelled in distance and mid- freestyle events, with Strader taking second in the 1000 free and Wolfred taking third in the 200 free. The pair combined to take two of the top three spots in the 500 free, with Wolfred grabbing second and Strader finishing third.

· Chase Baldwin collected two third place finishes in the 400 IM and the 200 back.

· The Xavier men closed out the day with a first place finish in the 400 free relay.

WOMEN'S OUTLOOK

· The Musketeers return seven All-BIG EAST Team honorees from last year's squad the finished third at the conference championship.

· Last season, Paxtyn Drew became the first female in program history to set an NCAA B-Cut time at the 2016 BIG EAST Championships, setting a qualifying time, and a school record, in a pair of events. Drew had an NCAA B-Cut performance during the preliminary head of the 100 backstroke, setting a time of 55.09 to qualify second before finishing third in the final. Drew also finished third in the 200 backstroke final with a NCAA B-Cut time of 1:59.16.

· Among the returnees is sophomore Caroline Gaertner, who took second place in the 100 backstroke during her rookie season, marking the top finish for a Musketeer on the women's side at the BIG EAST Championships in February 2016.

· Xavier also returns All-BIG EAST Team honorees Laura Dicus, Taylor Jach, Katie Kerr, Becca Titterton and Ashley Whiteley.

· Xavier added a five-person freshman class, including newcomers Riece Drew and Emily Saugstad who are the younger sisters of current Musketeers Paxtyn Drew and Mikaela Saugstad. Other newcomers include Emily Conners, Ali Fort and Abigail Garner.

MEN'S OUTLOOK

· Xavier returns nine All-Conference performers from last season's squad. The returning Musketeers account for five of Xavier's eight individual championships at last year's championship meet.

· Xavier returns a pair of Musketeers who set NCAA B-Cut qualifying times at last year's BIG EAST Championships. Graduate student Knox Hitt returns as the reigning conference champion in the 100 butterfly, setting a school-record time of 48.13, coming in under the NCAA B-Cut standard. Sophomore Michael Pettinichi swept the breaststroke events during his rookie season, setting a school record time of 2:01.89 in the 200 breast and setting a school record and NCAA B-Cut time of 55.38 in the 100 breast.

· In addition to Hitt and Pettinichi, sophomore Nathan Runyon returns as the reigning BIG EAST Chapmion in the 100 back and 200 back.

· Also returning for the Musketeers are All-BIG EAST performers Chase Baldwin, Erik Biernat, Matthew Dyer, Enrique Hernandez, Sam Johanns, Rodrigo Suriano and Alex Wolfred

· Xavier's men added a three-man class featuring Brandon Abboud, Landon Clark and Patrick Hackett.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

· Next weekend, the Musketeers host their annual Alumni / Intrasquad exhibition meet on Oct. 8 at the O'Connor Sports Center.

· Xavier's next meet against outside competition will take place on Oct. 14 through Oct. 15 when Xavier travels to Morgantown, W. Va. for the Big 12 vs. BIG EAST Weekend. During the two day event, Xavier will compete against host West Virginia, as well as conference foes Seton Hall and Butler.