Men's Swimming 11/22/2015 8:50:00 PM Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

#12 women finish 5th; #24 men finish 6th at Northwestern TYR Cup

Night 3 Recap – Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015
EVANSTON, Ill. - - The No. 12 Truman women finished fifth, while the No. 24 men finished sixth at the Northwestern University TYR Cup on Sunday, closing the three-day meet with a combined 19 NCAA Div. II B-cuts.

The Bulldog women earned 348 total points in the team competition, edging Div. I St. Louis University to finish fifth, while the Bulldog men captured 196 total points in the event, which featured five Div. I programs (two Big Ten Conference) and Truman.

On Sunday, the Bulldog women picked up five more B-cuts, with four coming as individuals along with the 400 free relay. Jasmine Roghair and Shannon Dague each put in strong work in the 1650 free, as Roghair finished eighth with a B-cut mark of 17:25.51 and Dague took 10^th with a 17:31.79 B-cut time. Truman's other two individual B-cuts both came in the 100 free, as Nikki Sisson finished fifth overall with a time of 51.16, while Alison Strickler touched in eighth with a time of 51.97.

The women's 400 free relay unit of Jamie Fitzpatrick, Strickler, Sisson, and Kortney Betz finished seventh in its race, hitting the wall in a time of 3:30.55 for the third B-cut relay time of the three-day event. Emma Barnett and Hannah Nicks each swam in the A-final of the 200 back, finishing seventh and eighth respectively.

For the men, JT Thayer punched a B-cut time in the 1650 free, finishing ninth with a time of 16:06.69. The Bulldogs' quartet of George Dowdy, Neil Girmus, Sam Heveroh, and Tim Senholtz took seventh in the 400 free relay, finishing with a time of 3:05.46.

The Bulldogs will have one more event in the fall semester, traveling to Div. I Western Illinois on Dec. 5 for a 12 p.m. dual.

Night 2 Recap – Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
EVANSTON, Ill. - - The Truman men's and women's swimming teams added five B-cuts on the second day of competition at the TYR Cup, including posting the fastest time this season so far by any NCAA Div. II women's program in the 800 free relay to close out the night.

The Bulldog women's quartet of Emma Barnett, Kortney Betz, Nikki Sisson, and Jasmine Roghair logged a time of 7:41.02 in the evening's final event, finishing seventh overall and locking a B-cut time in the 800 free relay. Earlier in the night, the 'Dogs also captured a B-cut time in the 200 medley relay, as Hannah Nicks, Ally Neumann, Libby Opfer, and Sisson punched a time of 1:45.64 and a seventh-place finish.

Three individuals also notched NCAA Div. II B-cuts, including Nicks' preliminary time of 56.94 in the 100 back (finishing seventh overall), Sisson's fourth-place finishing time of 1:50.72 in the 200 free finals, andWill Shanel's 14^th-place time of 4:01.60 in the 400 IM.

The Bulldogs will return to action for the final day of competition on Sunday for the 50 fly, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 100 IM, 200 fly, 1650 free, and 400 free relay events.

Night 1 Recap – Friday, Nov. 20, 2015
EVANSTON, Ill. - - A frenzy in the 500 free, resulting in four NCAA B-cuts, highlighted day one at the Northwestern (Ill.) University TYR Cup, as the Truman men's and women's swimming teams combined for eight B-cuts in NU's Norris Aquatic Center.

In the six-team competition featuring Truman and five NCAA Div. I programs, the Bulldog women accumulated 102 points to tie St. Louis University for fifth-place, while the men picked up 67 points and sit sixth through day one action.

Highlights on the day included the Bulldog women's 200 free relay squad that posted the current No. 1 time in NCAA Div. II this season with a B-cut mark of 1:34.66. Nikki Sisson, Alison Strickler, Jamie Fitzpatrick, and Hannah Nicks combined to finish just 1.4 seconds back of first-place Northwestern and less than seven-tenths of a second back of both Michigan State and Grand Canyon (Ariz.).

The other top event for the Bulldog women was the 500 free, which included improved or first-time B-cuts for Emma Barnett (5:00.27; 6^th place), Kortney Betz (5:02.19; 13^th place), Sisson (5:02.61), and Jasmine Roghair (5:05.04). Sisson added a third B-cut of the day with a fifth-place finish in the 50 free (23.81) and was joined by Strickler's B-cut mark of 23.95 as well in the event.

On the men's side, JT Thayer recorded the Bulldogs' first B-cut of the season in the 500 free, touching with the seventh-fastest time in Div. II at the moment with a mark of 4:36.81. Neil Girmus was part of two sixth-place finishes on the night – doing so as an individual in the 50 Breast (26.13) as well as swimming anchor in the 200 free relay along with Sam Heveroh, George Dowdy, and Austin Baker with a time of 1:24.75.

On Saturday, preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. and finals commence at 5 p.m. for the events of the 200 medley relay, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast, the 100 back, and the 800 free relay.

Event Preview – Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015
KIRKSVILLE - - The biggest event of the fall 2015 schedule is on tap for the nationally-ranked Truman State University men's and women's swimming teams this weekend, as a three-day meet against five NCAA Div. I programs will kick off on Friday at the TYR Cup in Evanston, Ill.

This season marks the third straight year that head coach Ed Pretre has taken his two squads to the Northwestern University campus for the TYR Cup, which will feature the Bulldogs, host Wildcats, fellow Big Ten member Michigan State University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, St. Louis University, and Grand Canyon (Ariz.) University. Action begins at 9 a.m. each day with preliminary competition, with the finals each night set for a 5 p.m. first event.

The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 12 (women) and No. 24 (men) in the first set of CSCAA top-25 Div. II national rankings, bring 13 top-10 seedings into the weekend's festivities. Both squads used the TYR Cup a season ago as a great chance to earn NCAA qualifying standards, as, a season ago, the teams combined for 20 NCAA-B cuts during the three-day meet. This season, the Bulldog women already have three NCAA-B cuts, as sophomore Nikki Sisson holds one in both the 50 free (24.01; 9^th-fastest in NCAA Div. II) and 200 free (1:52.10; 5^th-fastest in NCAA Div. II), as does freshman Emma Barnett in the 1000 free (10:23.57; 9^th-fastest in NCAA Div. II).

A reminder for fans that an NCAA A-cut time guarantees a place in a heat at the 2016 NCAA Div. II Swimming & Diving Championships, while an NCAA B-cut time makes a swimmer eligible, however does not guarantee a spot in a preliminary heat at the Championships.

This page will be continually updated throughout the weekend with recaps and results. For more information, please visit one of the links at the top of the story which include the full schedule of events, top 2015-16 times by Bulldog swimmers this season, and NCAA Div. II A- and B-cut standard times per event.

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Players Mentioned

Kortney Betz: Free/Fly/IM; Sophomore

Jamie Fitzpatrick: Free/Fly/Back; Sophomore

Ally Neumann: Breast/Fly/IM; Junior

Hannah Nicks: Free/Back/IM; Junior

Libby Opfer: Free/Fly; Sophomore

Jasmine Roghair: Free; Sophomore

Nikki Sisson: Free; Sophomore

Alison Strickler: Free/Back; Junior

Emma Barnett: Free/Back/IM; Freshman

Shannon Dague: Free/Breast; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Kortney Betz
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly/IM

Jamie Fitzpatrick
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly/Back

Ally Neumann
: Junior
: Breast/Fly/IM

Hannah Nicks
: Junior
: Free/Back/IM

Libby Opfer
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly

Jasmine Roghair
: Sophomore
: Free

Nikki Sisson
: Sophomore
: Free

Alison Strickler
: Junior
: Free/Back

Emma Barnett
: Freshman
: Free/Back/IM

Shannon Dague
: Freshman
: Free/Breast