Top-five swims by Jorden Merrilees in the men's 1000 freestyle and Takara Martin in the women's 100 breaststroke highlighted Oakland's double dual victory over visiting Cleveland State and Xavier Saturday afternoon at the OU Aquatic Center.
The Oakland men outscored reigning Horizon League champions Cleveland State 184-109 and defeated Xavier 213-69, while the OU women topped Cleveland State 166-127 and overwhelmed the Musketeers, 192-83.
In his first swim of the men's 1000 free this season, Merrilees topped the Horizon League best time by eight seconds with his time of 9:21.56, a time that ranks third-fastest in OU swimming history and is in the top 60 in the NCAA this season.
Martin posted an impressive time of 1:03.90 in the women's 100 breast, improving her PR and moving up to fifth all-time in program history.
Two-event winners for Oakland were, on the men's side, Merrilees (1000 free, 500 free), Grant Harding (100 free, 100 back) and Hrafn Traustason (100 breast, 200 breast) and, for the women, Martin (100 breast, 200 breast), Kyra Rietveld (100 back, 200 back) andTricia Grant (1-meter and 3-meter diving).
Also earning individual wins were men's swimmers Amr el Sayed (200 free), Mitch Alters (200 fly), Aleksander Danielewski (200 back) and Mario Rusnak (100 fly). For the women, Patricia Aschan (200 fly), Nikki Flynn (100 free) and Julia Vela (100 fly) tallied individual wins. Oakland exhibitioned the 200 IM and 400 free relay to conclude the meet.
"We had a lot of kids step up today," Oakland head coach Pete Hovland said. "Not only did Jorden and Takara swim well, but Kyra Rietveld and Grant Harding had an opportunity to stand out today. Kyra stepped up for us today as our top backstroker and anchoring the 400 free relay. Grant sometimes gets lost in the shuffle behind Jorden and Amr, and he'll be one of the guys that will help us make a run for the championship."
The Golden Grizzlies started the meet off with 1-2 finishes in the 200 medley relay, the first of 21 event wins by Oakland on the day. Rietveld, Melissa VanderMeulen, Vela and Flynn captured the women's victory with a time of 1:46.15, while the men's team of Merrilees, Matyas Keresztes, Rusnak and Harding were victorious in a time of 1:32.35.
The women's team pulled away from its foes with a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 back and taking the top four finishes in the 100 breast. In all, Oakland finished with the top two times in 15 events and at least the top three swims four times.
Prior to the meet, Oakland recognized the 11 seniors of the men's and women's programs for their hard work and dedication to the Golden Grizzlies.
Oakland wraps up the 2013-14 regular season Saturday, Feb. 1 at IUPUI for a dual meet at 11 a.m.
