Ohio State Men
The Ohio State men’s swimming and diving teams returned to the pool on Thursday for the first of three dual meets this week, defeating Cleveland State 172.5-84.5.
In the first relay, Ohio State’s foursome of Matt McHugh, DJ MacDonald, Liz Li, and Annie Jongekrijg earned a time of 1:35.13, outpacing the best Cleveland State relay team by over two seconds.
Steffen Hillmer’s time of 1:12.27 took the 150 freestyle, where four other Buckeyes slotted behind him. Mark Belanger (22.85) won the 50 backstroke, his first individual first place finish of the season, narrowly edging out Cleveland State’s Tommi Wolst (23.05). MacDonald’s time of 25.63 in the 50 breaststroke was good enough to give him his second top finish of the meet in as many events for the senior. Following him was McHugh, who notched his second first-place finish in the 100 butterfly (47.63). Freshman Mossimo Chavez (21.13) then eked past teammates Nathan Christian (21.36) and Kevin Musterait (21.39) in the 50 freestyle. The performance gave Ohio State an 80.5-23 lead heading into the first break.
After the intermission, Ching Lim extended that lead with his 45.72 in the 100 freestyle, and McHugh followed that up with yet another top finish, this one coming in the 100 backstroke (48.31). MacDonald continued his strong meet with a time of 56.59 in the 100 breaststroke, good for first place. Jovan Mitrovic (2:37.35) and Joey Long (2:37.51) battled in the 300 freestyle with the senior taking the top time.
It was at this time that Ohio State elected not to score any swimmers. In the first event after this decision, Lim (22.02) and Cleveland State’s Philipp Sikatzki (22.03) had the closest finish of the night in the 50 butterfly. Though Sikatzki led halfway through, Lim’s time of 11.82 coming down the stretch beat out his Viking counterpart (11.88).
In the 100 IM, Andrew Appleby’s time of 51.37 was the fastest out of all the Buckeyes, but Cleveland State’s Wolst (50.69) outswam all competitors in that event. To close out the meet’s swimming events, Ohio State’s Chavez, Liz Li, Belanger, and Cheyenne Meek combined for a time of 1:28.27 in the 200 freestyle relay to earn the fastest mark.
Diving-wise, it was another strong competition for Ohio State. Colin Zeng took the three-meter dive with his score of 450.75, besting his teammate Stephen Romanik by over 70 points. In the one-meter dive, Romanik (368.63) and Zeng (361.65) flipped places in a much closer contest. After all was said and done, the Buckeyes came away with a 172.5-84.5 victory.
The Scarlet and Gray will continue its busy week with another dual meet tomorrow evening against fellow Ohioans Miami University. Competition will kick off at 6 p.m.
Ohio State Women
The No. 24 Ohio State women’s swimming and diving teams returned to the pool on Thursday for the first of three dual meets this week, taking down Cleveland State 184.5-72.5
In the first relay, Ohio State’s foursome of Matt McHugh, DJ MacDonald, Liz Li, and Annie Jongekrijg earned a time of 1:35.13, outpacing the best Cleveland State relay team by over two seconds. Following that up was Katy Luchansky in the 150 freestyle, placing first with her time of 1:21.11. In the 50 backstroke, Camey Rabold (26.16) beat fellow Buckeyes Elizabeth Auckley (26.47) and Erin Dunseith (26.61) in a close race. In the 50 breaststroke, Rachael Dzierzak continued Ohio State’s winning ways thanks to her time of 29.61.
That streak would end in the 100 butterfly, however; Molly McNamara (56.04) of Cleveland State narrowly edged out Amy Bopp (56.06) in the closest event of the day. Li took the 50 freestyle with her time of 22.59 to put Ohio State’s lead at 79.5-24 heading into the first break of the meet.
Coming back from the break, Luchansky (51.64) notched her second top finish of the evening, this one coming in the 100 freestyle. After her close finish earlier in the meet, Dunseith came out on top in the 100 backstroke with her time of 57.51. Bopp then won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.94 for her first win of the meet.
Kathleen Cook (2:54.54) extended Ohio State’s lead in the 300 freestyle and Arianna Bullard (25.76) continued that trend in the 50 butterfly to lead the Buckeyes into the final break of the night with a 152.5-43 advantage. It was at this point that the Buckeyes elected not to score any swimmers to the remainder of the meet.
In the final swimming events of the night, Li (58.10) had the fastest time in the 100 IM and the relay team of Mossimo Chavez, Li, Mark Belanger, and Cheyenne Meek (1:28.27) owned the best time in the 200 freestyle relay.
Buckeye divers closed out the meet on an excellent note for the Scarlet and Gray. Hannah Thek (344.33) and Taylor Pamplin (290.25) won the three-meter and one-meter dives, respectively. The top four of each event was comprised solely of Buckeyes, a perfect capper to the meet, which ended with a final score of 184.5-72.5 in favor of Ohio State.
This was the first of three dual meets that the Buckeyes have this week, with the next one coming tomorrow, Friday, at 6 pm against Miami University at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
