From November 16 to 18, the SFU swim team travelled to Cleveland, Ohio to compete at the Magnus Cup. Multiple records were broken at the event, highlighting the importance of the event for qualifying to the NCAA Championships. The men finished in second place out of nine teams while the women finished eighth out of 13. Here’s how it went down.
Day one:
On day one, the men’s team made the 500-yard freestyle their own. With a time of of 4:26.55, Adrian Vanderhelm was awarded first place. That’s not all, however, as the Clan took the first three spots as well as six of the top eight at the event.
The team went on to receive two podium finishes in the 200-metre medley, where Gabriel Lee finished in first with a time of 1:50.16, and Rafik Jiwa finished in third with a time of 1:53.50. As a freshman, this was Jiwa’s first time competing at the Magnus Cup.
The men topped off these strong individual performances with a first-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay and second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The highlight of day one for the women’s team was a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay.
Day two:
Day two began in exciting fashion, with Rolando Hernandez beating his previous meet record in the 400-yard individual medley. His time of 3:51.90 smashed his 2017 time of 3:55.03, and gave him a first-place finish in the event. Funny enough, teammate Collyn Gagne would’ve also beaten the previous meet record with a time of 3:53.65, but had to settle for second place.
Vanderhelm also got in on the record-breaking with a time of 1:35.60 in the 200-yard freestyle. Teammates Matthew Fuller, Mackenzie Hamill, and Kyriakos Papaggelis took home second, third, and fourth place, wrapping up a dominant display.
The men then worked together to break another record, and did so convincingly. Hernandez, Fuller, Lee and Vanderhelm combined for a time of 6:37.01 in the 800-metre freestyle relay, more than six seconds faster than the meet record they set last year.
On the women’s side, Jessie Gibson, Kaleigh Sharkey, Kristen Olvet and Sara Wheelen combined for a second-place finish in 800-metre freestyle relay with a time of 7:27.48.
Sharkey added on to this by getting an SFU record in the 100-yard butterfly, edging out Gibson’s previous record in the event by a one-hundredth of a second with a time of 53.82.
Day three:
On the final day of the event, the SFU swim team wrapped things up in style.
The men got the ball rolling by taking five of the top six finishes in the 1650 yard freestyle, highlighted by Hamill winning the event with a time of 15:23.8.
Vanderhelm decided he could do better, and set an all-time SFU record, as well as a meet record, with a time of 1:45.5 in the 200-yard butterfly.
Another SFU record was broken by Antonio Marino in the 200-yard breaststroke, who swam the event in exactly two minutes, 1.2 seconds faster than the time set by Julian Monks in 2012.
The team then combined their efforts to finish first in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Hernandez, Fuller, Lee and Vanderhelm combined for a time of 3:00.2.
Despite the fantastic performances, the men’s team finished the meet in second place, trailing only the hosts, Cleveland State University. The SFU women’s team went on to finish in eighth place. The University of Akron finished in first for the women.
