2010 OAC Swimming & Diving Championships - Day One Recap
Day one of the 2010 Ohio Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships had a little bit of everything Thursday night at the Ocasek Natatorium.
John Carroll leads the women's competiton through five events with a score of 72 points. Ohio Northern (64.5), Mount Union (40), Baldwin-Wallace (28.5) and Wilmington (22) round out the scoring.
Ohio Northern, on the strength of an impressive showing in the 200 IM, holds a commanding 87-62 lead over second place John Carroll. Mount Union (35), Baldwin-Wallace (33) and Wilmington (18) hold down third through fifth place, respectively.
In the opening race, Rachel Mizner of John Carroll nipped Alison Garbash at the wall by a mere .01 of a second to give the Blue Streaks the Women's 200 Free Relay title in an OAC record time of 1:39.32.
JCU also set a conference record in a dominating win in the Men's 200 Free Relay. Alex Vereshchagin's 20.32 leg was a big reason why the Streaks posted a time of 1:25.08, lowering the league standard by nearly a second.
Ohio Northern swept the medals in the Women's 500 Free as Kaitlyn Early (5:10.84), Mackenzie Hoffman and Michelle Eggers went 1-2-3.
Michael Schultz would win his third career Men's 500 Free title. After a close chase through the first 16 laps, Schultz pulled away from JCU's Jimmy Ranallo late to win the crown in a time of 4:39.68.
In the Women's 200 IM, Jillian Huber followed Schult'z lead and became a three-time champion. Polar Bears teammate Katie Moore finished second just ahead of John Carroll freshman Julia Adams.
As impressive as the 1-2 sweep was by the women, nothing could quite match what the ONU men pulled off on their side of the 200 IM. The Polar Bears swept the top seven places in the 200 IM Final, led by Andrew Keriazes who won the title. Nick Swint and Ryan bender were second and third, respectively.
John Carroll swept the 50 Free events. First, it was Rachel Mizner of JCU claiming the crown by edging defending champion Alison Garbash of ONU (24.88 to 25.01). Then, Blue Streak sophomore Alex Vereshchagin posted his second NCAA "B" cut of the day with his winning time of 21.05.
The 400 Medley Relays provided the last bit of compelling drama. Ohio Northern appeared to have won the women's race in a league record time, but were later disqualifed for a rules violation. The Polar Bears would close out the night in record fashion when the men's quartet broke the record the school set last year in a time of 3:30.22.
