With a first-place finish in the first event of the meet, the Ohio men's swimming and diving team stands in fourth place with 157 points after the first day of competition at the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Jan Wuttig, Robert Ihasz, Mike Shelby and Donald Jupp beat Eastern Michigan to the wall by .02 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Coach Greg Werner said it was great to start the meet off with a win.
It was just fantastic
he said. These guys were confident and have been working all year towards winning this relay. After recording a personal best time of 4:38.06 in the morning preliminary heats, Luke Herlehy placed seventh in the 500 freestyle.
Werner said it was a great way for Herlehy to start off his collegiate career.
Greg Flecher (14th), Jamie Suter (15th) and Brett Stetson (16th) also scored points for the Bobcats in the event.
Matthew Bey scored Ohio's only points in the 200 individual medley, placing 12th.
Three Bobcat swimmers finished in the top eight in the 50 freestyle, led by Jupp, who finished second. Wuttig placed third and Shelby was fifth.
In the 1-meter diving event, Rick Wade placed second with a score of 277.04.
Diving coach Russ Dekker said Wade improved on his morning preliminary dives in the finals.
He came in this morning sharp on some things and not sharp on others Dekker said. He was really consistent (tonight) and challenged for the conference crown. Ohio finished off the evening with a fourth-place finish in the 400 medley relay. Bey, Shelby, Jupp and Brian Teske turned in a season-best time of 3:26.83 in the event.
Going into the second day of competition, Eastern Michigan leads with 289 points. Miami, Ball State and Buffalo are second, third and fifth, respectively.
The 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 800 freestyle relay events will be contested today.
Competition continues with swimming preliminaries starting at noon. Three-meter diving preliminaries follow at 3 p.m. Finals begin at 7 p.m. All events take place in the Nixon Aquatic Center in Oxford.
17
Archives
Julie Goldberg
20050304600midsize.jpg
Mike Shelby swims butterfly at a recent meet in the Aquatic Center. He helped Ohio to a forth place finish in the 400-yard medley relay at the MAC swimming championships in Oxford.
