IRSC WINS AT THE SPARTAN INVITATIONAL. THREE NJCAA RECORDS SET.

IRSC WINS AT THE SPARTAN INVITATIONAL. THREE NJCAA RECORDS SET.

This past weekend (December 15-18, 2018) saw the Indian River swimming teams compete in Clearwater Florida in the Spartan Invitational hosted by the University of Tampa. IRSC's athletes had some very good performances against some of the top NCAA Division 2 colleges in the country and came away with a team victory for the men, and 3rdplace for the women. Other teams competing in the competition were NCAA Division 2 powerhouses NOVA Southeastern University, competition hosts University of Tampa, Florida Southern College, St. Leo University, and Catawba College.

 Day 1 of competition was highlighted by a NJCAA record setting performance by Jarryd Baxter in the 200 IM. Baxter's time of 1:46.73 broke the previous record that had been set in 1998 by Polish Olympian Marcin Malinski IRSC also had event wins in the 200 IM from Savanna Best, and Ruben van Leeuwen in the 50 free.

Other top performances on the day -

1000 Free – Molly Layde (5th), Charlise Oberholzer (6th), Tiger Pilkington (5th)

200 IM – Olle Williamsson (4th), Conor Lynch (7th)

50 Free – Elianna Kennon ((4th), Ryen van Wyk (2nd), Jared Ingram (5th)

200 Medley Relay – Sophia Diagne, Savanna Best, Emma Colvin, Elianna Kennon (2nd), Ruben van Leeuwen, Olle Williamsson, Jarryd Baxter, Ryen van Wyk (2nd)

 Day 2 of competition saw event wins from the men's 200 free relay of Ruben van Leeuwen, Ryen van Wyk, Jared Ingram, and Jarryd Baxter.

Jarryd Baxter also won the 400 IM, and Josh Stegen took the win in the 200 free. The day ended with IRSC men's 400 medley relay team of Jarryd Baxter, Olle Williamsson, Ruben van Leeuwen and Ryen van Wyk taking the victory

Other top performances were –

200 free relay – Sophia Diagne, Elianna Kennon, Camryn Wheals, and Liz Watts (2nd)

400 IM – Savanna Best (2nd), Sule van der Merwe (4th), Conor Lynch (6th), and Olle Williamsson (8th).

100 Fly – Emma Colvin (5th), Sophia Diagne (6th), Ruben van Leeuwen (2nd), Tiger Pilkington (4th), and Ryen van Wyk (8th)

200 free – Camryn Wheals (4th)

400 medley relay – Sule van der Merwe, Savanna Best, Emma Colvin, Camryn Wheals (2nd)

 Day 3 was highlighted by 2 more NJCAA records. The first came again from Jarryd Baxter with his performance in the 500 free. His time of 5:20.72 erased the previous mark set in 2009 by IRSC's Mateo DeAngulo.

The second record set was by the members of the men's 800 free relay. The team of Baxter, Josh Stegen, Tiger Pilkington and Ruben van Leeuwen broke the two year old record with a time of 6:29.82 to also win the event.

Other top performances –

500 free – Charlise Oberholzer (4th), and Molly Layde (6th)

100 Back – Sophia Diagne (4th), Conor Lynch (2nd), and Jared Ingram (6th)

 200 butterfly – Camryn Hudson (2nd), Tiger Pilkington (2nd), tucker Adams (5th), and Brandon Vives (7th)

 800 free relay – Sule van der Merwe, Camryn Hudson, Camryn Wheals, and Liz Watts (3rd)

 Day 4 saw an impressive 6 event wins come from the IRSC men and women. Jarryd Baxter started it off with his win in the 1650 freestyle. Then Ruben van Leeuwen took the 100 free, while Sule van der Merwe and Conor Lynch won the 200 backstroke. Savanna Best then won the 200 breaststroke and the men's team of Jarryd Baxter, Ruben van Leeuwen, Ryen van Wyk, and Tiger Pilkington closed the final race of the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay.

Other top performances –

1650 free – Sule van der Merwe (2nd), and Charlise Oberholzer (6th)

100 free – Camryn Wheals (4th), Elianna Kennon (7th), Tiger Pilkington (4th), Ryen van Wyk (5th), and Kevin Bargate (8th)

200 breast – Olle Williamsson (2nd), and Eric Veit (6th)

400 free relay – Camryn Wheals, Sophia Diagne, Elianna Kennon, and Liz Watts (3rd)

 Women's Team Scores

1 University of Tampa 1329

2 Nova Southeastern University 949

3 Indian River State College 722

4 Florida Southern College 316

5 Saint Leo University 252

6 Catawba 149

 Men's Team Scores

1 Indian River State College 1002

2 University of Tampa 929.5

3 Florida Southern College 665

4 Nova Southeastern University 512.5

5 Saint Leo University 487

6 Catawba 123