Both of Eastern Michigan University’s swimming teams claimed second place finishes in the EMU Invitational Friday and Saturday.
On the men’s side, Eastern Michigan took first place with 1,144 points over Oakland University, which scored 1,042.
The EMU women’s squad finished second with 1,042 points over two days of competition with Oakland winning with 1,106. Wayne State University men’s and women’s teams placed third while the men’s squad from Ball State University finished fourth in the standings.
Friday saw an EMU 400-yard freestyle relay team break a record in that category. The ‘A’ team of Andrew Henry, Dexter Foos, Gus Everson and Brian Moore punched the wall at 2 minutes, 58.99 seconds, beating an Eastern Michigan pool record that stood since 1992 and a meet high mark Oakland held since 1994.
The Eagles women’s ‘A’ relay squad also added a victory of their own in the 400-freestyle relay with Sara Ghaffari, Jessie Godlewski, Mary Kate MacLean and Rebecca Detro. Detro finished second in the women’s 100-free. Godlewski also added an individual victory in the 200-yard butterfly.
Head coach Peter Linn praised his swimmers’ performances in the relays, especially in the record-breaking relay.
“That was great,” Linn said. “That was a terrific swim.”
Women’s diving completed the three-meter dive with EMU’s Melynee Saya winning with 280.90 over Oakland junior Tricia Grant (279.65).
Eagles junior Lauren Dark rounded out the podium in third with a 275.65 mark. In the men’s three-meter dive, Eastern Michigan claimed a 1-2 finish. Eagles freshman Alex Chan scored 324.50 to defeat junior Sage Stephens (295.90) and Wayne State junior Dylan Szegedi (281.60).
After day one, the women’s team of EMU topped the leaderboard with 344 points over Oakland’s 341 while Wayne State rounded out the standings in third at 303.
The EMU men’s squad ended the first day of competition in second with 331 points, 12 behind Oakland for first place.
“I think we’re doing really well for not suiting or shaving like other teams are,” Monica Dorszewski said.
The second day of competition was all about Oakland and saw another high mark fall. The Golden Grizzlies ‘A’ relay team of freshman Tuomas Kiviluoma, freshman Jacob Pearson, senior Amr El Sayed and sophomore Jorden Merrilees won the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:37.62. The time broke a pool record previously set by Southern Illinois University in 2010 and a meet mark the University of Michigan held since 2002.
The Oakland men won the tight relay races in the second day of competition. The quartet of El Sayed, Grant Harding, Mario Rusnak and Hrafn Traustason beat an EMU team by.10 seconds in the 200-medley relay. The group beat an EMU team comprised of Moore, Krzysztof Gilski, Cole Bateman, and Kyle Aerne with a margin of .01 seconds.
In the men’s events, El Sayed won a pair in the 200- and 500- freestyle events.
Gilski narrowly defeated Kiviluoma in the 100-butterfly by .08 seconds. Henry also claimed a win for the Eagles and won over fellow teammate Ethan McNally in the 400-individual medley.
The OU women’s squad racked up four wins in the five individual events in the morning session and all three in the evening. Dorszewski claimed the only victory for EMU in the morning in the 100-breastroke after having to come from behind to beat Oakland freshman Takara Martin by .12 seconds.
Grant rebounded from her second place in the three-meter dive to take victory in the one-meter dive. In the men’s one-meter dive, Eastern Michigan finished 1-2-3 with Chan (346.25), Stephens (288.15) and Dakoda Johnson (285.95).
Both Eastern Michigan swim teams will take a break and return to competition with a road dual meet at Florida International University Jan. 4.
