On Senior Day, Mike Swain led the way with four first-place finishes to help the Eastern Michigan University men’s swim and dive team finish Mid-American Conference play undefeated, knocking off the Miami University of Ohio RedHawks, 184-110, Saturday at the
Jones Natatorium.
Swain finished first in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes, the 200-yard individual medley and as a part of the 200-yard medley relay team with senior Jacob Hanson, junior Dexter Foos and freshman Erik Gissen in 57.63 seconds, 2:02.66, 1:51.58 and 1:32.94, respectively.
“It was very impressive to see [Swain] go out on such a high note,” EMU coach Peter Linn said.
Before the event, seniors Swain, Hanson, Tyler Capen, Jeffrey Craig, Frankie DeMaria, Michael Kinross, Ricky Linder and Andrew Saunders were honored in a pre-meet Senior Day ceremony to celebrate their time at EMU. Numerous swimmers introduced the seniors, who were each accompanied by their parents and stood next to them poolside.
In the men’s 200-yard medley relay, junior co-captain August Everson, freshman Krzysztof Gilski, sophomore Grant Schwarz and freshman Blake Howe finished second in 1:34.27.
Sophomore Franco Petrone placed first in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:37.69.
“Franco was outstanding in today’s meet,” Linn said. “He was terrific in all of the events, and I hope that he can build on this performance.”
Freshman Andrew Henry and sophomore Brian Moore finished first and second in the 200-yard freestyle with times of 1:40.65 and 1:47.02, respectively.
Hanson and Howe finished first and second in the 100-yard backstroke in 49.41 and 52.69, respectively.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Gilski and junior Aaron Lawson finished first and second with times of 1:50.08 and 1:54.40, respectively.
Foos captured first in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.05.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Hanson finished first in 1:49.65.
Petrone and Moore captured first and second in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 4:37.08 and 4:43.16, respectively.
EMU took the top three positions in the 100-yard butterfly with Gilski, Gissen and Kinross finishing in 49.69, 51.61 and 51.88, respectively.
For the RedHawks, sophomore Joe Baumgartner placed first in the 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 45.97.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Baumgartner, senior Ian Joyce, junior Michael Cavanaugh and freshman Christopher Dieter placed first for the RedHawks in 3:07.16.
In the 1-meter dive final, Craig and Saunders finished first and second for EMU with scores of 375.75 and 342.67, respectively.
In the 3-meter dive final, redshirt freshman Matt Ventura finished with a high-score of 269.78, but EMU coach Loren “Buck” Smith opted to make it an exhibition run out of respect of not running the score on Miami. As a result, RedHawks senior Mike Grainger took first with a score of 325.80.
Meet notes:
EMU moves to 5-2 on the year and 3-0 in the MAC, while Miami falls to 3-4-1 and 1-2 in the MAC.
The Eagles have now won 63 consecutive MAC dual-meets.
Linn kept things in perspective when asked about the significance
of the streak.
“If you get caught up in looking at the results instead of the process, then you could get in a lot of trouble in a meet and potentially lose,” he said.
Looking ahead:
The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams travel to Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 9 and 10 for the Ohio State Winter Invitational.
The participating teams and meet time are currently unknown.
Linn’s expectations for the invitational are more about getting everybody on the right track.
“I would like to see them have season and career highs in terms of times and I am looking for the underclassmen to make a statement in the meet,” he said.
This will serve as the penultimate meet before the MAC
Championships begin Feb. 28 for the women in Buffalo, N.Y., and
March 7 for the men in Carbondale, Ill.
