Ohio State Sweeps Virginia Tech As Men Win One-Point Thriller With Epic 400 Free Relay Finale

Despite some impressive individual performances from the Hokies, Ohio State’s depth was too much as the Buckeyes emerged with a sweep over Virginia Tech in a two-day dual meet in Christiansburg.

OSU comfortably won the women’s meet by a score of 196-157, while the men’s was an absolute barn-burner, with the Buckeyes winning the 400 free relay at the end to claim a one-point victory over the Hokies, 177-176.

Despite winning just eight of 17 swimming events and one of the four relays, the Ohio State women topped Virginia Tech by 39 points in the two-day dual, thanks in large part to their diving performance.

Graduate senior Paola Pineda and junior Lena Hentschel went 1-2 in both diving events for the Buckeyes, with Pineda scoring 337.95 on 1-meter to edge out Hentschel (336.60), and then the two posted respective scores of 356.70 and 351.75 in the 3-meter event.

In the pool, the top scorer for OSU was freshman Mila Nikanorov, who logged a season-best of 4:48.62 in the 500 free en route to a big victory and followed up with another dominant win on Day 2 in the 1000 free (9:53.57). The Colorado native owns altitude-adjusted best times of 4:37.49/9:41.10.

The next-highest individual scorer for the Buckeyes was Canadian freshman Sienna Angove, who set three lifetime bests and added a win in the 200 IM (2:00.82). Angove set a PB of 1:47.81 in the 200 free en route to a runner-up finish, and went 23.27 in the 50 free for 3rd and another best time. She also set a big best in the 100 free leading off the Buckeyes’ 400 free relay, clocking 49.99.

Starring for Virginia Tech throughout the meet was junior Carmen Weiler Sastre, who has been on fire all season, particularly delivering some standout performances at the SMU Classic in early October.

Weiler Sastre wasn’t quite as fast against OSU, but still managed to secure wins in the 100 free (49.03), 200 free (1:47.66) and 100 back (53.16), and was even faster in the 100 back leading off the Hokies’ victorious 400 medley relay (52.67).

Following Weiler Sastre’s standout 27-point tally for VT was fifth-year Emma Atkinson and junior Emily Claesson, who both had one win and one runner-up finish individually.

Atkinson topped the field in the 200 back (1:56.00) and was 2nd to Weiler Sastre in the 100 back (54.38), both slower than her season-bests from the SMU Classic (53.37/1:55.92).

Claesson won the 50 free with a new season-best of 22.96, and was the runner-up to Weiler Sastre in the 100 free, clocking 49.80.

Claesson also contributed on all three of Virginia Tech’s winning relays, as did Weiler Sastre, while Atkinson anchored the winning 400 free relay.

The lone relay win for OSU came in the 200 medley (1:39.42), which featured Nyah Funderburke (25.42), Maria Ramos Najji (27.87), Katherine Zenick (23.96) and Teresa Ivan (22.56).

Among those four, Zencik was the only one to earn an individual win, topping the 100 fly in 54.38, a new season-best.

Other Winners

Final Score

The men’s meet was a similar story to the women’s, as despite Virginia Tech having the top individual performer and winning three of the four relays, it was Ohio State that managed to come out on top.

Highlighting the meet going away was VT fifth-year Carles Coll Marti, who won all four of his events after a dominant performance in October at the SMU Classic.

Coll Marti didn’t hit any season-bests, but still rolled to wins in the 50 free (19.70), 100 breast (53.31), 200 breast (1:57.47) and 200 IM (1:44.77), adding 24.00/53.04 breaststroke splits on VT’s winning medley relays.

Ohio State’s Tristan Jankovics, who was the runner-up to Coll Marti in the 200 breast (1:58.88), was the only other swimmer to claim two individual events, topping the 200 fly (1:47.45) and 400 IM (3:47.43), hitting an NCAA ‘B’ cut and setting a new season-best in the latter. The 400 IM was also a 1-2-3-4 sweep for OSU.

In the relays, Youssef Ramadan, Brendan Whitfield, Will Hayon and Tanish George Mathew led the Hokies to the win in the 200 free relay (1:18.72), and then it was Ramadan, Coll Marti, Hayon and Whitfield leading the team to wins in both the 400 medley (3:10.71) to close out Day 1 and then in the 200 medley (1:25.64) to open Day 2.

Ramadan added a win in the 100 back (47.74), and was the runner-up to Hayon (47.42) in the 100 fly (47.50), while Whitfield led the 100 free (42.97).

At the end of the meet, it all came down to the 400 free relay, and Virginia Tech was in the driver’s seat up 172-164.

However, the Ohio State quartet of Tomas Navikonis (43.86), Evan Fentress (43.74), Mario McDonald (43.65) and Daniel Baltes (42.58) pulled out the victory over Virginia Tech, with Baltes running down Hokie anchor Luis Domínguez.

OSU finished in 2:53.83 to claim the win, while VT’s squad of Whitfield (43.11), Hayon (43.45), George Mathew (43.96) and Domínguez (43.53) was just over two-tenths back in 2:54.05.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 🥶#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/1IAU91IZuE

— Ohio State Swim/Dive (@OhioStSwimDive) November 2, 2024

The Buckeyes ‘B’ team won the race for 3rd, clocking 3:00.62 to VT’s 3:01.29, scoring the critical two extra points to give them the meet win by one.

Other Winners

Final Score