The 12th-ranked Ohio State men’s swimming and diving team earned a 170-120 victory over West Virginia Friday evening at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The Buckeyes will return to action for a double-dual vs. No. 9 Indiana and No. 4 Louisville on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to arrive early, as Ohio State will recognize an outstanding class of seniors prior to the meet.
Ohio State started off with a win in the 400 medley relay. Behind swims from Steven Zimmerman, DJ MacDonald, Matt McHugh and Josh Fleagle, the quartet clocked in a time of 3:15.61 for first. In all, the Scarlet and Gray picked up 13 points toward their team total with a third-place finish from the ‘B’ relay as well.
The 1000 freestyle ended in a Buckeye sweep, with junior Jovan Mitrovic claiming first (9:30.17), while sophomores Joey Long and Matt Moen followed in second and third, respectively. Ohio State then took the top two spots in the 200 freestyle, as Fleagle (1:37.74) claimed first and freshman Ching Lim earned second.
Moving onto the 100 backstroke, senior Rowan Williams came away with a runner-up finish. MacDonald then posted his second win of the meet with a first-place showing in the 100 breaststroke (55.55).
Before a brief break in action, senior Tamas Gercsak recorded a time of 1:50.55 in the 200 butterfly for first. In the 50 freestyle, McHugh finished first in 20.53, while Steffen Hillmer picked up a win in the 100 freestyle (45.14). Ohio State swept the 100 freestyle, as rookies Jack DiSalle and Kevin Musterait placed second and third, respectively.
The Buckeyes finished one-two in the 200 backstroke behind a first-place showing from Williams (1:48.47) and second-place finish from junior Chris Depietro (1:52.19). The 500 freestyle also went in OSU’s favor, with Alex Osterhage touching first in 4:35.77.
Ohio State scratched scores for the remainder of the meet; however, Lim touched first in the 200 individual medley (1:48.57) and the Buckeyes’ 200 freestyle relay contingent of Fleagle, McHugh, Michael DiSalle and Hillmer earned a top time of 1:21.28.
In the 3-meter diving competition, the Buckeyes completed a sweep with veterans Stephen Ettienne and Shane Miszkiel going one-two and freshman Stephen Romanik placing third. Ettienne posted a winning total of 435.98 in the event.
In its final dual meet of the season, the West Virginia University men’s swimming and diving team came up short at No. 12-ranked Ohio State earlier tonight in Columbus, Ohio.
Despite earning one-two-three finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard IM events, the Mountaineers fell by a final score of 170-120 to the host Buckeyes.
“It was a really solid effort from the men,” said coach Vic Riggs. “Both relays had significant drops from the fall and overall we had 23 in season-best times.
“Max (Spencer) had some really solid breaststroke swims. Nate Carr swam three in season-best times as well. This was an excellent opportunity for us to race a very good OSU team. I felt we did a great job of racing against them, which I believe will helps us race at Big 12s.”
Andrew Marsh contributed to three first-place finishes on Friday night. Marsh took first place in the men’s 100-yard backstroke (48.97) and 100-yard butterfly (49.68).
Marsh, along with Ross Glegg, Frank Csonka and Tim Squires raced to a first-place result in the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay.
In the men’s 200-yard IM, the Mountaineers took first through fourth place. Nate Carr hit the wall first in 1:49.85, Chris Brill placed second in 1:56.24, Austin Green finished third in 1:58.07 and Chase Williams took fourth in 1:58.24.
West Virginia enjoyed another sweep in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke. Max Spencer hit the pad first in 2:02.70, Carr placed second in a season-best 2:02.23 and Brill finished third in 2:07.56
On the men’s 1-meter diving board, Alex Obendorf led the Mountaineers with a fifth-place overall finish, scoring 285.68. Obendorf also led WVU on the 3-meter board, recording a fourth-place result (333.08).
In the men’s 200-yard freestyle, Carr and Glegg placed second (1:40.07) and third (1:40.96), respectively.
The men’s 500-yard freestyle saw Nathan Howells take second in 4:45.06. Pierce Bradshaw placed third in the event in 4:45.24 and James Koval finished fourth in 4:47.48.
The women’s diving team also competed at Ohio State on Saturday night. Senior Haily VandePoel took second on the 1-meter board with a mark of 277.58. Jennifer Rey took fourth in the event with a score of 251.40 and Lindsay Schmidt placed fifth, scoring 248.03.
VandePoel also led the group on the 3-meter board, placing third overall (292.73). Schmidt placed fourth (272.10) and Rey took fifth (261.45).
The women’s swimming and diving team hosts Ohio tomorrow at 4 p.m., at the WVU Natatorium, while the men won’t return to competition until the Big 12 Championships from Feb. 25-28.
