Nov. 19, 2012
NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion University men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished up their third and final day at the Nike Cup in Chapel Hill, N.C.
ODU won a total of four events on Saturday, November 17 including a CAA record breaking swim by Sidni Hoxha. Hoxha (43.43) nearly shaved a full second off his preliminary run in the 100 yard freestyle final to capture the gold medal. Hoxha now has the fourth fastest time in the NCAA this season for the 100 free.
On the first day of competition in Chapel Hill, N.C., Hoxha won the 50 yard freestyle championship. Hoxha's time of 19.9 qualified him for the NCAA B-cut, which means he is now eligible to be selected to compete in the NCAA Championships on March 21-23 in Indianapolis, Ind. On the second day of Cup action, Hoxha (1:37.55) finished a fingertip behind Jonathan Boffa (1:37.41) of N.C. State and took second place in the 200 yard freestyle final. The 1:37.41 finish places Hoxha atop the ODU record books.
Kimberley Rashleigh capped off quite the weekend with yet another first place finish in the 200 yard backstroke final by posting a time of 1:59.53. Rashleigh also set a school record for the 200 yard freestyle when she swam the first leg of the 800 yard freestyle relay in 1:49.62.
In day one of the Nike Cup, Rashleigh posted a time (2:01) in the 200 yard IM final that qualified her to be eligible to be selected to compete in the NCAA Championship in March. Rashleigh made the most of day two in Chapel Hill, as she won the 400 IM championship with a time of 4:14.26. Rashleigh also was part of a relay team that placed fourth in the 800 yard freestyle relay along with Savannah Bowers, Morgan Johnson, and Danielle Naylor.
The Lady Monarchs also got a very strong performance from Yesim Giresunlu in day three. Giresunlu won the 1650 yard freestyle final by four seconds with a time of 16:43.15. Teammate Danielle Naylor cruised to sixth place finish, while Abby Vance finished in eighth out of 17 competitors.
Senior Jessica Hubert kept the Lady Monarch's success going when she won the 200 yard butterfly championship by hitting the wall at the 1:58.50 mark.
Bernardo Figueredo took second in the 1650 freestyle final, finishing in 15:49.41. Jason Haigh placed fourth out of 21 competitors in the 200 yard breaststroke after completing the race in 2:03.72.
The men's 400 yard freestyle relay team of Sidni Hoxha, Ben Hansen, Andrew Crockett, and Vitor Sa placed sixth. The women's 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Kimberley Rashleigh, Mackenzie Payment, Savannah Bowers, and Morgan Johnson also finished in sixth.
The Lady Monarchs ended up placing fifth as a team out of eight schools. While the men's team finished fifth out of six schools.
Old Dominion will return to action on Dec. 1 when the Lady Monarchs will host George Washington and Rutgers and Monarchs will host George Washington at the J.C. "Scrap" Chandler Pool.