Oakland swimming celebrated its Horizon League team title from last year with a sweep of Green Bay today.
Oakland Press Release:
The Oakland men’s swimming and diving team defeated Green Bay 198-97, while the women’s team won 168-125 in their home opener Saturday afternoon at the Oakland Aquatic Center. Rachel Waite won four events in the 200-yard IM (2:09.16), 100 and 200 breast (1:03.94, 2:19.30) and the 200 medley relay (1:46.22). Also winning four events was Tuomas Kiviluoma in the 100 and 200 freestyle (46.55, 1:42.40), 200 medley relay (1:32. 34) and the 400 free relay (3:06.68).
Also winning events on the men’s side were Ben VanderWeide (1000 and 500 free), Aleksander Danielewski (100 and 200 back), Devon Nowicki (100 and 200 breast), Mitch Alters (100 and 200 fly) and Paul Huch (50 free).
Krissy Harmon (1000 and 500 free), Patricia Aschan (200 fly) Holly Morren (50 free) and Hannah Burgess (200 back) also earned event wins for the women.
Green Bay Press Release:
The Green Bay men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened up their 2015-16 seasons on Saturday afternoon with dual meets against the defending Horizon League Champions, Oakland, at the Oakland University Aquatic Center in Rochester, Mich. Both Phoenix squads put up a fight against the host school, but fell 168-125 on the women’s side and 198-97 on the men’s side.
Green Bay was able to pick up a total of eight victories in the pool on the day, with the women touching the wall first in five individual events and one relay, and Willem Poelmans picking up the only individual victory on the men’s side paired with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Junior Claire Friederick picked up where she left off last season, collecting a victory in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.15. Friederick also swam as part of the victorious 400-freestyle relay quartet that finished the meet in 3:36.30. Joining Friederick on the foursome was Racheal Weiland, Alicia Hanson and Janna Check. Check, a native of Stevens Point, Wis., was the other dual winner on the day for the Phoenix women, as the junior also picked up a victory in the 100-yard butterfly after touching the wall in 59.40.
Freshman Rosalyn Stoa showed promise in her debut with the Phoenix, swimming to a first-place finish in the 200 IM with a time of 2:13.21. The Green Bay diving squads performed marvelously on the boards this afternoon, as Bailey Wagner and Allison Paupst picked up victories in the one-meter and three-meter competitions, respectively.
Senior Willem Poelmans led the Phoenix men with the only individual victory of the meet, as the breaststroke-IM specialist raced to a first place finish in the 200 IM after touching the wall in 1:54.07. The men’s squad ended its first official competition on a high note this afternoon, claiming a first-place finish in the 400-freestyle relay after the quartet of Derick Goodson, Austin Sturdivant, Emanuel Hernandez and Brian Borden combined to swim 3:17.01.
Head coach Reed Robelot led Green Bay in its first competitive action in his time at the helm and was very pleased with what he saw in the pool.
“Congratulations to Coach Hovland, his staff and Oakland’s student-athletes,” Robelot said. “They are a great group of competitors and performed well today. I’m proud of our men and women for fighting hard and bringing home a number of individual wins. At this time of the year, we are looking for aggressive, smart racing. We saw a lot of that today, along with a few other things we will build on.”
The Green Bay swimming and diving teams will make their return to the pool next weekend when the team hosts its annual Intraquad/Alumni Meet at the Peter F. Dorschel Natatorium in Green Bay, Wis., at noon.
