Seven first-place finishes propelled the Miami university men’s swimming and diving team to a 160-135 win over Ball State University Saturday afternoon at the Nixon Aquatic Center.
Five seniors -- Joe Baumgartner, Sam Crockett, Michael Heavilon, Andrew Kilkenny, and Heshan Unamboowe -- were honored with Senior Day Ceremonies before the final regular-season meet for the RedHawks.
Miami started off the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. First place went to the Miami-A relay team, comprised of seniors Unamboowe, Crockett, Heavilon, and Baumgartner, with their combined team time of 1:34.13. The Miami-D relay team, comprised of juniors Sean Neri, Evan Bader, Davis Staley, and Jacob Prodoehl, came in second place, respectively.
Baumgartner took first in 50-yard freestyle with an impressive time of 20.55. Kilkenny turned in a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 47.48.
Staley also earned points for the RedHawks when he won the 100-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 52.04 followed by Prodoehl in second. Junior Christopher Dieter earned first place in the 1000-yard freestyle with his time of 9:53.16. Following close behind in second was sophomore Jack Strauss.
Miami had top finishes in the 200-yard freestyle with sophomore Bryan McNamara coming first, touching the wall at 1:43.91, followed by Kilkenny in second. Sophomore Maximilian Jelen brought home another first-place finish for the RedHawks in the 200-yard backstroke with his time of 1:55.92
The RedHawks commanded the diving competition with good showings from junior Michael Nash and sophomore Sean Sargent. Nash took first-place in the three-meter competition accumulating a final score of 354.76. Sargent followed in second and junior Cole Fryman finished in third place in the same event. At the completion of the one-meter competition, Miami finished top three again with Sargent in first with 325.27 points, followed by Nash in second and sophomore Brian Donohue in third.
Sophomore Grant Stafford had a good day with two individual second-place finishes. In the 200-yard butterfly, Stafford turned in a time of 1:54.52 and finished the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 52.06.
Bader turned in two top finishes for Miami. Bader swam to a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall at 58.12. The junior swimmer came back later in the meet to swim the 200-yard breaststroke where he was the top-finishing RedHawk with his final time of 2:07.63, earning him second.
Looking forward, Miami is off until the Mid-American Conference Championships March 5-7 in Geneva, Ohio. A portion of the Miami swimmers also will compete in the Ohio Senior Championships in Oxford that same weekend (March 6-8).
Miami University women’s swimming and diving team concluded their regular season with a 172-126 win over rival Ohio University on Saturday afternoon at Ohio University’s Aquatic Center.
The RedHawks finished 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the MAC.
The three sophomore divers for Miami had a big day, finishing 1-2-3 in both the one- and three-meter dives. In the three-meter dive, Pei Lin came in first place (299.92), Taylor LeCount finished second (233.70) and Jenna Karrow rounded out the trio for third place (227.32). The order was the exact same for the one-meter dive, with Lin earning a score of 263.62, LeCount with a 257.77 and Karrow earning a 249.22.
Senior Annie Marquiss had a big day in her last regular season meet. She won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.79. Junior Natalie Rohr finished the race in third with a time of 24.39. Marquiss also won the 100-yard freestyle, clocking in at 52.28, with sophomore Elise Campbell swimming a 52.77, quick enough for third place. Marquiss, Rohr and Elise Campbell all competed on the winning 400-yard freestyle with junior Sara Krueger, touching the wall in 3:29.72.
Sophomore Logan Klinsky earned her first collegiate win in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:53.37. Krueger finished right behind her with a 1:54.46 time. Klinsky continued her big day with a 5:04.28 time, earning her second place in the 500-yard freestyle. Freshman Shay Spelman came in third place in the race, clocking in at 5:07.32.
Stephanie LeMire won the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:18.10. Freshman Holly Schuster finished the event in 2:19.95, earning her a second-place finish. LeMire won the 200-yard IM as well (2:06.29), with Schuster clocking in at 2:07.02 for third place. LeMire also finished in second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.77), with Elise Campbell finishing behind her in third (1:06.07).
Spelman won the 1000-yard freestyle, coming in with a time of 10:20.10, while senior Stephanie Pearce had a third-place finish, touching the wall in 10:29.56.
Sophomore Brittany Dudzinski earned second place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.90.
Coming in third in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:07.33 was sophomore Kathleen Dodson.
Junior Michele Rielly swam a 2:03.91 to take third place in the 200-yard backstroke.
Freshman Morgan Quesnel clocked in a time of 58.07 in the 100-yard butterfly for third place.
The RedHawks will start preparing for the MAC championships, where Miami looks to win the conference, as they were projected to before the season. The MAC Championships run from Feb. 25-28 at Eastern Michigan's Michael H. Jones Natatorium.
