By Dylan Lux
The Youngstown State University swimming & diving teams had their best finish in program history at the Horizon League championships from Feb. 15 through 18.
The team also had two individual conference champions this season. Sophomore Aleksa Radenovic finished first in the 200 fly and junior Gavin Webb finished in the top spot in the 1650 in back-to-back years.
The Penguins both finished fourth overall at the Horizon League Championships, as the men finished with 431 points, and the women finished with 426.
Brad Smith, head coach of the swimming & diving teams, explained the positive impact of Radenovic and Web winning individual conference championships.
“It’s another step in the right direction for our program, one of our goals is to win conference championships … for [Webb] to be a repeat means the world. He’s worked really hard for this,” Smith said. “We knew the potential that [Radenovic] had, and it was great to see Alex emerge this year.”
Smith spoke on how the team prepared for the championship meets.
“For the NCAAs and NICs, after conference championships we give them a week off, and kind of build them back in slowly,” Smith said. “We get to peak volume for about half of a week, then we kind of taper them back down for this.”
At the CSCAA National Invitational, from March 8 through 11, the Penguins delivered impressive performances, which included podiums from Webb in the 1650, including a school record time and Radenovic in the 200 fly.
Three other Penguins finished in the top 30 in competition. Senior Karan Raju placed 19th in the 200 fly event. Juniors Soma Albert finished 23rd in the 200 back, while Gavin Redden took home 29th in the 100 free.
The swimming & diving team will compete in the NCAA Championships from March 22 to March 25. Keep up-to-date with the team at ysusports.com
