Swimming & Diving: Roberts-Burrell Wins 200 Back, Lakers Set 11 Information at Findlay

Laurel Roberts-Burrell got here to Lake Superior State on the heels of two gold medals and a silver on the prestigious English Summer Nationals, the place he received the 200 meter Backstroke and the 50 meter Backstroke.

It took him lower than a day to attain his first win within the United States. The Nottingham native received the 200 yard Backstroke in 1:49.64, blowing away the remainder of the sector and the prevailing LSSU file because the Lakers confronted Findlay on Saturday in Ohio.

In his first collegiate swimming occasion, Roberts-Burrell got here in about two and a half seconds shy of an NCAA “B” commonplace within the 200 Backstroke, and simply over a second in need of the “B” commonplace within the 100 Backstroke. He set the college file within the 100 Back as properly, ending second at 49.86, lower than half of a second behind reigning GMAC Freshman of the Year Juan David Blandon Torres. It was a day to recollect for the younger Englishman, capping an exhilarating meet for Laker Head Coach Tim O’Neill.

“I think we did a great job in the first meet for many of these swimmers, not only in college, but in the US,” O’Neill stated. “I’m excited with the team energy.”

He praised Roberts-Burrell’s swimming and identified that such nice ends in the primary meet present that there is potential for much more nice issues sooner or later. “Going a time like that is certainly a really great sign.”

As a workforce, the Lakers set 11 new college data towards Findlay, a workforce that completed seventh nationally in Women’s Swimming and Diving and eighth nationally in Men’s Swimming and Diving. Women’s swimmer Zita Gonda made her collegiate debut and convincingly set a pair of particular person data. She completed second within the 100 Back, lower than a second behind Sofia Lesmes Montes, a dominant power within the GMAC with a number of appearances on the nationwide stage. Gonda completed at 57.80, a brand new college file by practically 5 seconds that is not far off the “B” commonplace of 56.16. She additionally completed fourth within the 100 Free, with a time of 53.26, beating the prior LSSU file by practically 4 seconds.

O’Neill was thrilled with the performances of Gonda and Sara Delic. “It’s really exciting,” he stated. “We have the opportunity to continue breaking those barriers with this team.”

For her half, Delic, one other debutant, completed second within the 50 Free with a time of 24.70, lower than a second behind multiple-time First Team All-American Olivia Scheibelhoffer. Delic set one other college file within the course of, breaking the file set on the GLIAC Championships in February.

Saturday stamped this system’s progress. Going towards one of many prime groups within the nation, scoring a win, breaking practically a dozen program-best marks and practically scoring plenty of upset wins with a workforce largely swimming their first races in North America is a press release of intent for O’Neill’s blossoming squads.

“Because it’s such a young team with a lot of international swimmers, they’re getting their first experience swimming this distance and getting the feel for a college meet,” stated O’Neill. “They’ll have better understanding of what their times are and where they want to be and where they thought they might be, along with the changes to make to get toward those goals.”

While Roberts-Burrell’s win sends a loud sign flare up for LSSU, the workforce now spends a month getting ready for Davenport’s October Invitational. Throughout the season, they will face rugged competitors. The workforce travels to the esteemed Shark Invitational in December, heads to the superb Ohio Northern program in January and faces Ashland the following day. Additionally, the Lakers compete a number of instances throughout the extraordinarily deep GLIAC convention.

“We’re going to ramp up a lot,” O’Neill stated. “With that in mind, expectations also increase on what we can deliver and setting a good floor for team passion and effort, and I’m hopeful we can capitalize on that as we get into this next training cycle.”

Good instances arrived. But the very best remains to be a good distance out.

Download the Lake Superior State Lakers app now out there on the App Store and Google Play and comply with the Lakers for push notifications on the most recent information.