Blue Devils Take the Lead on Day One of Nike Cup

Thursday, November 19

Chapel Hill, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Day One at Nike Cup Invitational

Blue Devils Take the Lead on Day One of Nike Cup

11/19/2015 10:42:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Duke men's and women's swimming and diving teams made a statement on the opening day of competition at the Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup Invitational, taking the lead in both sets of team standings at the annual meet for the first time in program history.

Duke swimmers and divers combined for seven top-three finishes in individual events and won three of the four relay races to take the early lead in the three-day meet at North Carolina's Koury Natatorium.

“This was, by far and away, our best first day of an invitational or championship meet,” said head coach Dan Colella. “Usually this first day with these events, we have not typically been anywhere near as strong as we were today so to accomplish what we did today has got everybody really excited about the next two days.”

The Blue Devils kicked off the first evening session of the meet in strong fashion, sweeping the women's and men's 200-yard freestyle relays. Maddie Hess, Maddie Rusch, Leah Goldman and Jessie Sutherland took down the school record and earned an NCAA provisional cut with a 1:29.75 performance while Mike Seaberg, David Armstrong, Dylan Payne and James Peek clocked the second-fastest time in program history at 1:18.57.

“A very, very exciting way to get the whole thing started,” Colella said. “We knew they would be fast, but we also know there's some great competition here. We're very proud of those young ladies and young men who swam on those relays.”

Sophomore Verity Abel gave Duke another first-place finish in the women's 500 freestyle, dropping time from her morning swim for a personal-best 4:47.52. The mark gave her an NCAA B cut and ranked her second on the program's all-time performance list. Freshman Riley Hickman was the men's top performer in the event, touching at 4:29.98 to place second in the consolation final and sixth on Duke's all-time top 10.

“I was nervous for sure – all of the girls in that heat, our times are all so close so I knew it would be a competitive heat,” Abel said. “It's definitely challenging but it was a lot of fun. I was thrilled about the win for the sake of the points because our team is reaching levels that it never has before. To be able to contribute to that is such a good feeling.”

Both the men and women were well-represented in the 200 IM championship finals, with junior Bradley Cline winning the men's race at 1:46.97 and freshman Judd Howard earning a spot among the all-time top 10 in third overall (1:48.78). Sophomore Anna Quinn led a quartet of Blue Devils in the women's 'A' final, taking fourth at 2:02.98. Classmate Abby Artmann was fifth (2:03.71) and junior Liza Bragg sixth (2:03.74) while Goldman came in eighth after breaking the school record she previously shared with 2014 graduate Christine Wixted during the morning session (1:58.41).

Another program record fell in the women's 50 freestyle, as Rusch raced to the wall in 22.14 to take second in the field. Peek was also second on the men's side (19.87), followed by Armstrong in fifth (20.20), Payne in seventh (20.49) and freshman Sean Tate in eighth (20.53).

In diving, freshmen Mackenzie Willborn (321.95) and Evan Moretti (336.90) each took third in the 3-meter and 1-meter springboard events, respectively. Both Blue Devil rookies improved upon their preliminary round scores while all Duke divers that competed in finals events finished inside the top eight overall.

The final event of the evening saw junior Kaz Takabayashi, junior Peter Kropp, Armstrong and Peek combine to take down the program record in the men's 400 medley relay. The group also bested the field and surpassed the NCAA provisional standard with a time of 3:09.20, while Takabayashi added a school record in the 100 backstroke as the leadoff (47.57). Freshman Mickayla Hinkle, junior Ashleigh Shanley, Goldman and Hess were second in the championship final and on the Blue Devils' all-time chart with a time of 3:38.20.

After Sutherland broke the school record in the women's 100 backstroke as the leadoff on Duke's 'B' relay with a 53.83 split, Hinkle went 53.48 for another program benchmark. In total, the Blue Devils earned seven program records on the day.

Action in Chapel Hill resumes Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. with preliminaries of the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke as well as women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter diving.

Team Scores:
Women: Duke 555, North Carolina 480, Yale 472, NC State 402.50, Marshall 234.50, East Carolina 215, Old Dominion 153, Clemson 43, James Madison 24
Men: Duke 562, NC State 472, U.S. Naval Academy 384, North Carolina 350, East Carolina 320, Yale 285, Old Dominion 170

Top Duke Finishers by Event:
Women's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Maddie Hess, Maddie Rusch, Leah Goldman, Jessie Sutherland (1st), 1:29.75
Men's 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Mike Seaberg, David Armstrong, Dylan Payne, James Peek (1st), 1:18.57