Swimming Closes Out Regular Season at Home Against Wright State

Saturday, January 28

Cincinnati, Ohio

12 P.M.

Xavier University

Wright State University

Swimming Closes Out Regular Season at Home Against Wright State

01.27.17 | Swimming

Wright State Swimming Info

Musketeer seniors will be honored during Saturday's meet

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier swimming closes out its regular season on Saturday, when the Musketeers host Wright State for a dual meet at the O'Connor Sports Center. The Musketeers and the Raiders are set to begin at noon, and 17 senior student-athletes will be honored during the meet.

MEET INFORMATION

Xavier vs. Wright State (Senior Day)
O'Connor Sports Center | Cincinnati, Ohio
Saturday, Jan. 28 – 12:00 p.m.

THE OPPONENTS

WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS
Dayton, Ohio | Horizon

Wright State was last in action on January 21, when the Raiders swept Cleveland State. During the meet, held at the WSU Natatorium, men's and women's squads combined to win 16 racing events.
The women collected nine wins, including multiple wins for Maddie Eckley (1000 free, 500 free), Sofia Aledo (100 back, 200 back), Nikki Borgerding (100 breast, 200 breast) and Ashlyn Roberts (50 free, 100 free). The Raiders also won the 200 free relay to win by a final margin of 160-133.
The men won six individual racing events, including the 1000 free by Thomas Downey, the 200 free by PJ Musser, the 100 breast by Trevor Keriazes, the 50 free by Bradford Johnson, the 100 free for Dominic Poletta and the 200 breast by Ryan Schultz. The Raider men also too the top in the 200 frees relay team to take the narrow 151-143 win over the CSU.

SENIOR DAY

Saturday's meet marks the final home meet of the careers of 10 Xavier men and seven Musketeer women. The 17 Xavier seniors will be honored during the meet.

2016-17 SENIOR CLASS


Erik Biernat Centennial, Colo.	Eric Futscher Irving, Texas	Knox Hitt The Woodlands, Texas


Taylor Jach Frankfort, Ill.	Hanna Martin Temperance, Mich.	Tony Miller Missouri City, Texas


Gage Mitchell Holland, Mich.	Matt Nephew Bloomington, Ind.	Mikaela Saugstad Greenwood, Ind.


Arthur Smith Orlando, Fla.	Sarah Stone Plano, Texas	Nick Strader Noblesville, Ind.


Rodrigo Suriano San Salvador, El Salvador	Heidi Turner Manassas, Va.	Rob Van Kirk Cincinnati, Ohio


Emily Wagner Bloomington, Ind.	Ashley Whiteley Springboro, Ohio

LAST TIME OUT (WOMEN)

Xavier was last in action at the Butler Invite on Sunday, January 22.
Katie Kerr took the first of six first-place finishes for the Musketeers in the 200 free. Kerr also placed second in the 500 free.
Emily Conners swept the freestyle sprints, taking the top spot in the 50 and 100 free.
Xavier went 1-2 in the 100 back, with Caroline Gaertner taking the top spot and Paxtyn Drew taking second. Drew also placed second in the 200 back
Gaertner scored another win in the 100 fly.
The Xavier women closed out the event with a first place finish in the 400 free relay for Conners, Paxtyn Drew, Abigail Garner and Gaertner.
Xavier finished with 663 points, second only to Saint Louis' total among the six teams competing.

LAST TIME OUT (MEN)

Xavier's men opened the Butler Invite with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay.
The Musketeers accounted for two of the top three spots in the 50 free, led by Rodrigo Suriano's second place finish of 21.30. Knox Hitt took third in 21.49.
Suriano also posted a strong performance in the 100 free, taking third and narrowly out-touching teammate Enrique Hernandez in fourth.
Xavier took two of the top five spots in the 500 free, with Alex Wolfred taking fourth and Nick Strader placing fifth.
Knox Hitt picked up a second top-three finish, taking second in the 100 fly.
Like the women, the Xavier men closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay.
Xavier's men finished with 538 points, standing behind only Southern Illinois and Saint Louis.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The meet against Wright State marks Xavier's final outing before heading to the BIG EAST Championships held February 22-25 at the Nassau County Aquatic Center on Long Island, N.Y.
All-session tickets for the 2017 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships are now available for purchase by visiting www.redstormsports.com.
All-session tickets can be purchased for $35 for adults and $20 for seniors (65+) and children (17 and under). The all-session tickets are good for all seven sessions, Wednesday through Saturday. Click here for tickets.
Single-session tickets will go on sale at a later date and all on-site ticket sales will be cash only.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Knox Hitt earned BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week honors from the conference office for the week of January 24 for his performance at the Butler Invite. Hitt grabbed two of the top individual finishes for the Musketeers on Sunday afternoon, taking second in the 100 fly (50.71), an event in which he is the reigning BIG EAST Champion. Hitt also placed third in the 50 free with a time of 21.49. Hitt also helped the Musketeers collect a first place finish after taking the third leg of the winning 400 free relay which clocked a time of 3:06.76, out-touching second place Saint Louis by over four seconds.
Hitt's honor is the eighth BIG EAST Weekly Award for the Musketeers this season, and fourth for the Xavier men after men's and women's swimming combined to collect six BIG EAST Weekly awards during the Fall semester and Paxtyn Drew earned the honor on January 10 for her performance at IUPUI.
Xavier men's and women's swimming swept the BIG EAST Weekly Awards for the second time this season in the week of Nov. 22, when Michael Pettinichi and Caroline Gaertner took the honors after their performances at the CSU Magnus Cup.
That made two Weekly Awards from the conference offices this season for Gaertner, who along with Rodirgo Suriano, was named Athlete of the Week by the conference for the week of Nov. 1. Suriano also earned BIG EAST Swimmer of the Week honors for the week of Oct. 25.
Emily Conners also earned the honor from both the conference offices and CollegeSwimming.com in the opening week of the season

SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA TEAMS

Xavier men's and women's swimming earned the Musketeers the distinction of Scholar All-America Teams by College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for Fall 2016.
To earn the recognition, programs must have achieved a grade point average of 3.00 or higher for the Fall semester. Xavier is one of 87 schools to have both its men's and women's teams honored.
The Xavier women were one of 164 NCAA DI teams honored, posting a 3.41 GPA last semester, which ranks in the top third of the DI teams and is the second highest among BIG EAST Conference members.
The Musketeer men were one of 87 Division I teams honored, posting a top-15 GPA of 3.34 last semester, the highest mark among BIG EAST schools.