Big Ten Quad Saturday Coverage

No. 10 Ohio State Goes 2-1 in Big Ten Quad
The 10th-ranked Ohio State men’s swimming and diving team went 2-1 in the two-day Big Ten quad-meet at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion that concluded Saturday afternoon. In front of a crowd of 511 fans, the Buckeyes defeated No. 19 Penn State, 258-76, and Northwestern 270-64, but fell to No. 2 Michigan, 180-151. Ohio State is now 9-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten.
 
“I am so pleased with how well we competed today,” Bill Wadley, head men’s swimming coach, said. “Coming into today’s competition, we really wanted to win a couple of races and that’s what we did. I am really proud of our performance.”
 
Highlighting the afternoon was the performance by sophomore Chuck Allison. The Franklin, Wisc., product captured first in the 100-yard butterfly, picking up an NCAA “B” time and a new school record in 47.21.
 
“I was completely shocked,” Allison said. “I’ve been training really hard and my goal coming into today was to make the Big Ten team. I was expecting a time like that to come later this season.”
 
Having another excellent day of competition was sophomore Sean Moore. He captured both the three-meter and platform diving events, taking first in all three diving competitions on the weekend. His scores of 433.35 on the three-meter and 464.35 on the platform were new McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion records. On the three-meter, the Buckeyes swept the top-three spots, seeing Ryan Jefferson in second (381.20) and Burkley Showe in third (337.00).
 
The 100 breaststroke featured another great swim from senior Felipe Travesso and junior Sam Pelkey. The duo finished 1-2 in the event, with Travesso swimming a “B” cut time of 54.16.
 
The Buckeyes started the meet off right, capturing first in the 200-yard medley relay. The winning team of freshman Andrew Elliott, Travesso, Allison, and junior Joel Elber swam a NCAA “B” time of 1:27.38.
 
Freshman Brent Hitchcock and sophomore Jayson King took third (4:25.10) and fourth (4:25.57), respectively, to lead Ohio State in the 500 freestyle. In the 200 individual medley, sophomore Justin Farra took third in a time of 1:49.91
 
In the 100 backstroke, Elliott and sophomore Itai Chammah tied for second-place with a time of 49.53. The time was a career-best for Elliott. Also swimming a career-best time was junior Duncan De Wet. He finished third in the 100 freestyle in 45.38.
 
The two-day meet concluded with the 200 freestyle relay and the Buckeyes captured second in the event. The team of Elber, freshman Steven Springer, senior Yannick van Heers and junior Andrew Olson finished in 1:20.97.
 
The Buckeyes close out the regular season with a meet against the West Virginia Mountaineers on February 6. The co-ed meet is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
 
WSWM&DIV: Buckeyes Lose to Penn State, 196-132
The Ohio State women’s swimming and diving team “competed well and didn’t back down,” according to coach Bill Dorenkott, in a 196-132 loss to Penn State Saturday in Columbus. A terrific crowd of 511 was on hand to watch the meet in the toasty warm McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion as part of the athletic department’s Scarlet and Gray Meet promotion.
 
Dorenkott, the architect of the previous 10 Penn State teams including three Big Ten Conference championship squads, felt as if his first-year Buckeyes continued to improve their competitiveness this week and he likes the path this team is on.
 
“I was concerned about a letdown coming off the emotional meet last week against a huge rival (Michigan), but it didn’t happen,” Dorenkott said. “I felt we brought the same level of consistency and competiveness to the pool as we did last week against Michigan, but we had fewer mistakes. We’re getting better each week.”
 
The Buckeyes, now 4-4 on the season against a schedule that has included three of the last five Big Ten champions, won a total of five races (and three diving competitions) over the two-day meet against a good Nittany Lion team, sparked by a 400 freestyle relay win Friday night that Dorenkott called “significant.”
 
Saturday afternoon, Ohio State picked up two wins. Splendid sophomore Samantha Cheverton won the 100 backstroke – her second individual win of the meet – in come-from-behind fashion in 55.72. Freshman Lisa Narum followed Cheverton’s win with a victory in the 100 freestyle in a time of 51.13.
 
Sophomore Kristen Asman, from Worthington, added to her one-meter victory on Friday with a win on the three-meter board Saturday with 306.55 points.
 
Additionally, Ohio State’s 200 medley relay team comprised of Cheverton, freshman Catherine Eitel, senior Courtney Brayman and junior Meg Noble was second in 1:45.56. The 200 freestyle relay of Narum, Cheverton, Noble and Beck was also second in 1:35.73. 

Jill Lockhart and Katelyn Brix took second and third, respectively, in the 200 individual medley with times of 2:05.74 and 2:06.17. Colleen Schweitzer was third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.28 and Griet Buelens was third in the 500 freestyle in 4:55.50.
 
Next week the Buckeyes conclude their dual meet season with a senior send-off meet against West Virginia at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The 5 p.m. meet Friday will be the final home competition for seniors Buelens, Brayman and Whitney Hackman.