Patricia Aschan led the way with three individual wins while Nikki Flynn, Takara Martin and Seth Timmons won two events apiece as the Oakland swimming and diving teams wrapped up the regular season with a pair of victories against Cleveland State and Xavier in a double dual at Busbey Natatorium.
The Oakland women posted a 203-77 victory over Cleveland State and a 162-100 win against Xavier. On the men's side, the Golden Grizzlies defeated the host Vikings 159-135 and bested Xavier 202-78.
"It was a good effort today by both teams," said Oakland head coach Pete Hovland. We had a number of our swimmers do well today. It's always tough to swim well on the road, but our team was very focused. We were healthy, and it showed."
Aschan started her day with a victory in the 200 freestyle, touching first in 1:54.93. She then added a victory in the 200 breaststroke (2:21.23), out-touching teammate Rachel Waite (2:21.71) for a 1-2 finish for the Golden Grizzlies. Aschan then led a 1-2-3 Oakland finish in the 400 IM, winning in 4:26.63. Cassie Misiewicz (4:34.00) and Megan Hunter (4:38.91) rounded out Oakland's effort.
"I think Patricia set the tone for us early on," Hovland said. "She was out sick much of last week, and to come back with those wins, says a lot about her character."
Flynn touched first in the 50 free (24.13) and 100 free (52.18) while Martin was the winner in both the 100 breast (1:05.01) and 100 butterfly (58.80). Martin led Oakland in a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 fly, with Stella Pasalidou (58.89) and Lauren Wynalda (59.11) finishing second and third, respectively.
Hunter added a victory in the 200 fly (2:08.10) and Kyra Rietveld touched first in the 100 back (58.03) to give Oakland nine individual wins out of 12 swimming events. The Golden Grizzlies also won the meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:46.15 with the team of Rietveld, Martin, Pasalidou and Flynn.
For the men, Timmons turned in times of 4:38.43 in the 500 free and 9:35.73 in the 1000 free to win both distance events for Oakland, as the Golden Grizzlies spread the wealth with seven swimmers winning eight individual events.
Oakland finished the meet strong, winning five of the final six individual events, including Timmons in the 500 free. Adding wins during that stretch were Jeremiah Morren in the 100 free (46.52), Aleksander Danielewski in the 200 back (1:51.13), John Schihl in the 200 breast (2:05. 45) and Jorden Merrilees in the 400 IM (4:06.20).
The Golden Grizzlies also got victories from Jacob Pearson in the 200 free (1:43.87) and Mitch Alters in the 200 fly (1:52.33). Oakland started the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay, as Merrilees, Schihl, Mario Rusnak and Morren teammed up to win in 1:32.27.
"We've got a lot of swimmers that performed well today that sometimes go under the radar," Hovland said. "And those swimmers are showing their best when it matters."
Oakland will now prepare to defend its titles at the 2015 Horizon League Championship Feb. 25-28, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
