Handley, Gutierrez Lonzano Capture OWN Titles
On a beautiful Fall afternoon at Lone Star Lake Park, the Kansas swimming trio of freshman Lauryn Parrish, sophomore Jenny Nusbaum and junior Haley Bishop earned the school's second Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Open Water swim title in as many years. outhern Illinois' Bryn Hadley earned the women's individual title after posting a time of 1:04:39.22, over a minute faster than last year's winner of Kansas' Libby Walker.
On the men's side, Missouri Redshirt freshman Giovanni Gutierrez Lozano (Lima, Peru) took home the men's national title in leading the Tigers to the men's team title with eight points. Last year's champion Stanislas Raczynski of Emmanuel finished sixth.
Fifty-three women started Saturday's race all at the same time, jockeying for position the first 500 meters. This included a tight group of athletes basically swimming on top of one another, unlike anything that would be experienced in a pool. For some, it might be very different, but for others, like Nusbaum, it was exciting.
"The field was a lot deeper and faster this year, and it made for an exciting race," Nusbaum said. "As we moved towards that first buoy there was a lot of kicking, getting hit in the head, and fighting people off. It was a little more intense than last year, but it was fun."
"It's very different from what you train for every day," Parrish said. "It's really a mental game more than anything else and you've just got to trust your training to take you home. It was very different, very fun, and I really liked it."
"We had great efforts from all six of our swimmers today," head coach Rick Walker said. "Bryn won and never gave up the lead. Kelsie Walker swam in her first full race after having major a blood clot in her leg and Jordan Ries was right there to clinch fourth place for us. This is a big deal in open water swimming and this was a huge day for SIU."
Women's Team Scores
1. Kansas 18
2. Rice 22
3. Missouri 25
4. Southern Illinois 36
5. St. Louis 64
6. George Washington 66
7. Sioux Falls 84
8. UNC Ashville 94
9. Northern Michigan 106
10. Richmond 119
11. Albion 146
12. Emmanuel 150
Men's Team Scores
1. Missouri 8
2. Carson-Newmann 37
3. George Washington 41
4. Emmanuel 42
5. Northern Michigan 47
6. St. Louis 72
7. Albion 106
Tigers on the Prowl
Missouri ran away with the team title having placed three swimmers in the top-five for a low total of eight points. The Tigers' Gustavo Gutrierrez took the top spot for the men by over two minutes with a sub-one hour finish of 59:25.05, crushing last year's men's winning time of 1:01:06.43. He was just ahead of Tiger sophomore Giovanny Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who recorded a 1:01:59.30. Also competing on the men's side were freshman Carter Grimes (Las Vegas, Nevada), who took fifth in 1:02:13.12, and junior Jacob Wielinski (Mounds View, Minnesota), who placed seventh in 1:04:12.31.
Home Water Advantage
Parrish led the Kansas threesome in her first collegiate race with a fourth-place finish of 1:05:02.27. Nusbaum was right on her heels in fifth-place with a time of 1:05:26.60, while Bishop earned a ninth-place finish with a time of 1:05:33.51 – and for the second-straight year KU had three swimmers crack the top-10.
"It's very different from what you train for every day," Parrish said. "It's really a mental game more than anything else and you've just got to trust your training to take you home. It was very different, very fun, and I really liked it."
The threesome navigated the 5,000-meter course (roughly 3.1 miles) faster than any other school earning the team title with a low score of 18 points. Rice had two swimmers in the top-10 and placed second with a team score of 22 points, while Missouri finished third with a collective score of 25 points.