OXFORD, Ohio – Claire Parsons (1650-yard Freestyle) and Chloe Farro (100-yard Freestyle) set new Indiana State standards on Saturday night at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center as the Sycamores closed out the final day of the 2023 Miami Invitational.
 
Parsons won the 1650-yard Freestyle event becoming the first ISU athlete in program history to go sub-17 minutes in the event in touching the wall in 16:52.20 to win the event by 5.62 seconds. Farro went 50.02 to set the new ISU mark in the 100-yard Freestyle breaking the previous Sycamore record by .22 seconds to highlight the final day of competition for Indiana State in the calendar year.
 
Overall, Parsons set the new ISU marks in the 500-yard Freestyle (twice), while Parsons and Zoe Smith (3M Diving) both claimed individual wins on the weekend.
 
The Sycamores finished second overall in the team standings finishing with 835 points over the three-day event. Host Miami took the team title with 1172.5, while Dartmouth (722.5) and Grand Canyon (710) rounded out the top four in the field.
 
"This weekend was a good opportunity to see where we are at to this point in the season," head coach Josh Christensen said. "We competed well as a team and definitely had some big highlights throughout the weekend including multiple school records and a couple event wins. We weren't perfect and we know we have places we need to improve quite a bit if we're going to be competitive in the way we expect to be at the MVC Championship meet in February. We'll take what we learned here and use it as we get back to training and preparing for that meet."
 
Saturday Night Finals
Claire Parsons continued to pace the Indiana State team on the weekend as the freshman capped her individual highlights on the day leading ISU in the 200-yard Backstroke event. The Terre Haute native finished seventh overall in the field touching the wall in 2:03.54 just ahead of teammate Olivia DiRuzza (2:03.62). Kate Reeves was 15th in the field in 2:05.45, while Kalli Agapios (2:03.38, 17th), Trista Bullock (2:05.66, 19th), and Esther Rydbeck Norden (2:07.69, 20th) posted top-20 finishes.
 
Chloe Farro rewrote the record book again for the Sycamores as the junior exploded to a 50.02 to finish third overall in the field. Her time set a new ISU record surpassing the previous mark set by Alexa Szadorski (50.24) last season at the MVC Championships. Erin Cummins was eighth overall in 51.17, while Peyton Heagy touched 12th in 51.89. Alexa Szadorski (52.24) and Allie Barash (52.84) were in the top 24 for ISU in the event.
 
Ali Pearson turned in a personal-best in the 200-yard Breaststroke as the freshman finished in 2:16.38 to place second in the Saturday night finals. Kaimi Matsumoto was just outside the top-three in fourth with a time of 2:17.87, while Kaleigh Kelley was sixth in 2:18.85. Dorotea Bukvic was 10th in 2:18.76 to add to the Sycamores' scoring, while Makayla Sura (2:27.17, 22nd) and Kamila Nowak (2:28.77, 23rd) competed in the event final.
 
Haley Halsall (2:03.89, 5th), Raz Harel (2:05.36, 6th), and Alexandria Cotter (2:06.63, 7th) were all in the top eight in the field in the 200-yard Fly for the Sycamores. Raine Boles added a 13th place result in 2:07.09, while Becca Shaffer dropped 2.37 seconds off her previous best to finish in 2:08.79.
 
The Sycamores rounded out the day putting two teams inside the top six in the 400-yard Freestyle Relay on Saturday night. The team of Chloe Farro, Erin Cummins, Alexa Szadorski, and Peyton Heagy finished third in 3:23.76, while Kaleigh Kelley, Kaimi Matsumoto, Allie Barasch, and Claire Parsons finished sixth in 3:27.39. Ash Saple, Raz Harel, Raine Boles, and Kalli Agapios finished 13th in 3:33.30, Kate Reeves, Olivia DiRuzza, Becca Shaffer, and Trista Bullock finished 16th in 3:35.16, with Haley Halsall, Esther Rydbeck Norden, Kamila Nowak, and Makayla Sura finished 17th in 3:38.35.
 
Top ISU Performers in Each Event
200-yard Backstroke: Claire Parsons (2:03.54, 7th)
100-yard Freestyle: Chloe Farro (50.02, 3rd – New ISU School Record)
200-yard Breaststroke: Ali Pearson (2:16.38, 2nd)
200-yard Fly: Haley Halsall (2:03.89, 5th)
400-yard Freestyle Relay: Chloe Farro, Erin Cummins, Alexa Szadorski, Peyton Heagy (3:23.76, 3rd)
 
Saturday Morning Preliminaries
Olivia DiRuzza and Claire Parsons both were in the top-eight in the 200-yard Backstroke to open Saturday morning's preliminaries at the pool. DiRuzza finished fourth in 2:01.61, while Parsons posted a 2:02.46 to place seventh in the field. Kate Reeves was 11th overall in 2:04.86 with Esther Rydbeck Norden (2:07.32, 18th) and Trista Bullock (2:07.96, 20th) both finishing in the top-20. Kalli Agapios also advanced to the evening's finals with a time of 2:08.71.
 
Chloe Farro was just off the ISU record in the 100-yard Freestyle as the junior finished third in the field in 50.47. Erin Cummins also advanced to the top-eight with a time of 51.49 putting her seventh overall. Peyton Heagy (51.57) was ninth overall with Alexa Szadorski (52.15) and Allie Barasch (52.66) both recording top-20 finishes to advance to the finals. Jordan Gruce finished with a time of 53.25, while Ash Saple rounded out the group after touching the wall in 54.04.
 
Kaimi Matsumoto (2:18.30), Ali Pearson (2:18.43), and Kaleigh Kelley (2:19.12) were all in the top eight as the Sycamores placed three in the event finals on Saturday night. Dorotea Bukvic (2:19.67) finished ninth overall in the field, while Makayla Sura (2:26.87, 21st) and Kamila Nowak (2:28.18, 23rd) also advanced on Saturday morning.
 
Haley Halsall set a new personal-best in the 200-yard Fly as the sophomore touched the wall in 2:01.89 to place second overall in the field. Alexandria Cotter (2:05.55, 6th) and Raz Harel (2:05.76, 7th) also advanced in the top-eight overall. Raine Boles finished 14th in 2:07.76, while Becca Shaffer (2:11.16) placed 20th to move on to the finals.
 
Claire Parsons continued to impress as the freshman set another Indiana State record by posting the fastest time in the Valley this season in the 1650-yard Freestyle. Her mark of 16:52.20 led the way and marked the first time an ISU swimmer went sub-17 minutes in the event topping the previous best set by Andrea Putrimas (17:01.44) set back in 2019 at the Purdue Invitational.
 
Haley Halsall finished fifth overall in the event in 17:12.14, while Esther Rydbeck Norden joined her teammate with a top-10 finish with a time of 17:22.61. Erin Cummins was 13th in 17:31.17 with Rose Parsons (17:50.52, 17th) and Kamila Nowak (17:51.52, 18th) both in the top-20.
 
Top ISU Performers in Each Event
200-yard Backstroke: Olivia DiRuzza (2:01.61, 4th)
100-yard Freestyle: Chloe Farro (50.47, 3rd)
200-yard Breaststroke: Kaimi Matsumoto (2:18.30, 3rd)
200-yard Fly: Haley Halsall (2:01.89, 2nd)
1650-yard Freestyle: Claire Parsons (16:52.20, 1st - New ISU School Record, Fastest Time in the Valley this season)
 
Up Next
Indiana State returns to the pool in the new year as the Sycamores travel to Carbondale, Ill. to take on Southern Illinois on Saturday, January 13.
 
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