ELKHART, Ind.--The Truman Swimming teams had a strong first day at the GLVC Championships. The men had a strong showing in the 200 IM, with Jax Mahlstadt matching his seed time of 1:54.47, Alex Burkhardt with a final time of 1:56.74 ( a full second under his seed time) and Austin Bell beating his seed time by over ten seconds with a final time of 1:58.39. Relay performance was also strong, led by John Breen who had an anchor leg 20.96 in the 200 medley relay and 21.24 in the third spot of the 200 freestyle relay. Jack McKenzie 22.36 in the third leg of the 200 medley and 21.3 in the 200 free. McKenzie also had a strong race in the 50 free at 21.6 seconds, .24 under his seed time.
Following the men's performance, coach Jerod Simek said, "with the change in meet format of times finals the men got up and raced from the start today. Our medley relays set the bar and we continued to race well and learn from our races that we will continue to apply as the meet goes on."
The men finished day one with 111 points.
For the women, the 200 IM was another strong point as Ginny Schranck, Christina Jurotich and Natalie Galluzzo had great times of 2:09.76, 2:15.81 and 2:06.36, respectively. Each of them beat their seed times--with Jurotich beating hers by over five seconds and Schranck by over ten seconds. Galluzzo placed 8th overall.
Emma Brabham and Sarah Nelson both had good times in the 50 freestyle at 23.71 (just under her seed time of 23.73) and 24.63. Brabham placed 8th and Nelson 21st.
The 200 relay teams finished 7th and 14th. Brabham-Allison Garrett-Nelson-Lexi Krogman finished seventh while the Maddie Wilson-Jurotich-Natalie Nguyen-Kaitlyn McDaniel finished 14th. Simek highlighted two great splits from Jurotich and McDaniel of 25.01 and 24.96. Nelson also turned in a very strong performance on the first heat with a 24.22 third leg.
Simek said, "The women started off very strong for Day 1 with great energy and camaraderie. With that we had some lifetime best times and a lot of season best times for the year. I am excited to see how we continue to perform as we head into the day 2 and the stroke event later in the meet!"
The women finished day one with 233 points.
Full results can be found here.
