Sophomore Marcin Unold swam his second NCAA Automatic qualifying time of the meet, clocking a Summit League and school record mark of 1:43.57 in the 200-yard backstroke, and senior Zoltan Horvath continued to add to his league-record with his 11th individual title, claiming the 200 breaststroke with a NCAA ‘B’ cut, Summit League and school record time of 1:59.50, to lead the Oakland University men’s swimming and diving team to its ninth consecutive league championship on Saturday night in the Recreation and Athletics Center (RAC).
Oakland broke the Summit League meet record with 1,050, breaking its own record of 1,042 set back in 2000. Following the Grizzlies in the standings was Centenary (556), Western Illinois (461), Eastern Illinois (443), IUPUI (359) and South DakotaState (278).
“Needless to say we’re pretty elated about our performance,” said head coach Pete Hovland. “Not often in our sport do you have so many outstanding performances, swim in and swim out.”
Horvath and Unold both led the championship meet with 60 individual points for the Golden Grizzlies. Unold was tabbed The Summit League Swimmer of the Year, finishing the meet with two NCAA ‘A’ cut times, and multiple school and league records.
“Marcin and Zoltan were just outstanding,” said Hovland. “Zoltan is the defending Swimmer of the Year, and he came in here and swam fast, breaking a Canadian Olympian’s record (Scott Dickens). But to have some of his swims get overshadowed by Marcin, tells you about the quality of the way we swam this weekend.
“Marcin is an amazing competitor and really has an outstanding sense in what he needs to do. For somebody to swim that fast without shaving, and resting for just five days, really gets a coach excited about what he can do in the time prior to the NCAA Championships. I wasn’t going to rest him at all for this meet, but he wanted to in order to help some of his teammates try and qualify for the NCAA meet in a couple of the relays. That shows you what type of person he is.”
Freshman John Ledda was tabbed Newcomer of the Year, after earning 39 points for the Grizzlies. He tallied top-eight finishes in the 400 individual medley (4th/4:13.63) and 1650 freestyle (6th/17:00.21).
Junior Aaron Holdsworth clocked a Summit League and school record time of 1:47.54 in the 200 butterfly to claim his third consecutive crown in that event.
Senior Anthony Serio opened the night in fine fashion for the Golden Grizzlies, winning the 1650 freestyle with a lifetime-best time of 16:00.23 to capture his first league championship in the mile. Junior Andy Kellogg found the winner’s circle for the second time, posting a career-best time of 44.99 in the 100 free, to edge out senior Chris Tansel’s mark of 45.43.
Freshman Sam Megli clocked a lifetime-best time of 2:10.12 to finish runner-up to Horvath in the 100 breast, earning second team all-Summit League honors. Joining Megli on the second team was sophomore Patrick Downing, finishing the 200 back with a time of 1:51.05, just missing his career-best mark of 1:51.03, to earn all-league honors.
Junior Jason Manasseri clocked a lifetime-best time of 1:51.34 in the 200 fly to earn second team all-Summit League honors. The 200 free relay team of Unold, Tansel, junior Nick Bonucchi and Kellogg posted a NCAA ‘B’ cut and Summit League record time of 2:58.16. Unold also broke the Summit League record with a 100 free split time of 43.89.
