Denver Men and Women Both Take 12th at NICs

Thursday, March 14

Cleveland, Ohio

University of Denver

CSCAA National Invitational

3/16/2019 7:48:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Saturday Final Results NIC Championship Results

Colin Gilbert won the 1650 free to highlight the Pioneers final night of competition

By: Niko Blankenship

CLEVELAND – The University of Denver men's and women's swimming and diving programs both took 12^th place on the final night of competition at the 2019 CSCAA National Invitational Championships.

Denver's flights were cancelled on Wednesday, causing the Pioneers to miss the opening day of the meet due to the #BombCyclone. The Pioneer men would have finished in sixth place (488), and the women have taken fourth place (459) if they received scores for their seed positions entering the Championships for the events they missed.

Colin Gilbert (Kamloops, B.C.) opened the final night of competition for the Pioneers with a victory in the 1650 free, reaching the final wall in 15:16.74. For the Denver women, Andi Johnston (Fort Collins, Colo.) took eighth in the distance race with her 16:43.21.

Neil Wachtler (Waco, Texas) and Cy Jager (Moscow, Idaho) reached the podium in the men's 100 IM with second (49.57) and third (49.84) place finishes, respectively. Darragh Mahns (Missoula, Mont.) also competed in the A-Final for the Pioneers, taking ninth with his 51.35. Craig Robrock (Savage, Minn.) rounded out Denver's scoring in the event, finishing 20^th in 52.43.

Charlotte Simon (Saint Remy, France) was the lone Pioneer woman in the finals in the 100 IM, finishing eighth with her 57.55. A couple of events later, Heidi Bradley (Victoria, B.C.) was Denver's lone finalist in the 200 back, reaching the wall 18^th with her 2:00.90.

Hugo Sykes (Weston, Conn.) made the Denver men's next finals appearance, taking 19^th place in the men's 100 free after his 45.54. Mahns earned Denver an additional point in the event, taking 20^th in 45.58. Sarah Lingen (Maple Grove, Minn.) swam in the 100 free for the Denver women, taking 19^th after her 51.40.

Simon got Denver back on the podium in the 200 breast, reaching the wall in 2:12.95 to take third. An event later, Gilbert also swam in his second final of the evening, finishing 17^th in the 200 fly with a 1:50.10.

Kylie Cronin (Marblehead, Mass.) took the final individual swim of the evening for Denver, clocking in at 2:01.79 to finish eighth.

The final event on both the men's and women's side Saturday was the 400 free relay. On the men's side, Wachtler, Sykes, Mahns and Robin Kuebler (Centennial, Colo.) combined for 2:58.33 to finish fifth. Lingen, Bradley, Aysia Leckie (Georgetown, Ontario) and Annelyse Tullier (Dallas, Texas) got Denver on the podium one final time in Cleveland with a 3:21.59 to finish third.

Saturday Night's Event Wins
Men's 1650 Free – Colin Gilbert – 15:16.74

Up Next:
Josie Valette (Boulder, Colo.) will head to the NCAA Women's Championship March 20-23 in Austin, Texas, while Cameron Auchinachie (Binghamton, N.Y.) will be a week behind her at the men's championships from March 27-30 in Austin. Auchinachie will swim in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free and Valette will swim in the 100 fly and 200 fly.

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