FAIRFAX, Va. – A pair of school records and 17 marks that will appear among the top-16 all-time highlighted American University performances this weekend at the Patriot Invitational, hosted by George Mason.
Senior
Paris Wood bested the school record in the women's 100-yard backstroke on Friday, with her second-place finals time of 55.96 eclipsing the mark of 56.29, set by Junkal Irigoien in 1999.
On Saturday, Wood anchored the Eagles' 400 freestyle relay team that finished third in 3:29.53. She joined
Olivia Wons, Caylee Watson and
Julianna Cavano for the reecord on Saturday. Wood, Watson and Cavano had joined
Shannon Exley for a 3:29.72 swim at last year's Patriot League Championships.
Wood also finished second in the 200 back on Saturday, with her 2:01.22 in the prelims moving her into second place all-time for the Eagles.
The Eagles women were outstanding in both backstroke events, placing four swimmers in the 'A' final of the 100 back on Friday and four with second swims in the 200 back on Saturday.
Watson was third in the 100 back (56.79), Cavano placed fifth (57.53) and Wons was seventh, with her 58.44 mark in the prelims moving her from 14th to eighth on the all-time list at AU.
In the 200 back, Watson was fourth in the 'A' final in 2:04.82 moving her into eighth all-time. Wons was 11th in the race and is now 11th at AU with her mark of 2:07.16, while Cavano won the 'C' final in the 200 back at 2:06.30, moving to 10th all-time.
Watson also had a fifth-place finish on Friday in the 200 IIM (2:07.73, 9th all-time), while
Fiona Caulfield earned a berth in the finals in 1-meter diving (6th, 217.85) and 3-meter diving (7th, 224.70).
For the men, versatile junior
Kilian Korth had a strong meet for the Eagles.
Thursday, he was fourth in the 500 freestyle in 4:35.16, moving into 13th all-time at AU.
He reached the 'A' final on Friday in the 100 butterfly, with his 51.11 (T7th) clocking moving him into 13th at AU, and in the 100 back (8th, 51.13 prelims).
Korth finished a strong meet on Saturday with a fifth-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:51.21).
Junior
Ryan Richards also had a highlight effort on Saturday, with his 16:24.91 in the 1,650 freestyle earning him eighth place in the meet and 14th all-time at AU.
American is scheduled to compete next on Dec. 3 to 5 at the U.S. Swimming Nationals in Seattle and Dec. 4-6 at the ECAC Winter Championships at East Meadow, N.Y.
