With a snow storm blanketing Southeast Michigan and much of the Midwest and Northeast, the Eastern Michigan University men’s and women’s swimming teams resumed the regular season in warm and sunny Miami, Fla., at the Florida International University Invitational on Saturday.
The men’s team claimed third place with 301 points while the women’s squad took home a fifth-place finish with 610.
The EMU relay team of Cole Bateman, Mike Fisher, Krzysztof Gilski, and Dexter Foos finished third in the 200-yard medley relay. In the 200-Freestyle relay, an Eagles team of Foos, Gus Everson, Brian Moore, and Erik Gissen placed third.
Fisher went on to place third in the 100-yard breaststroke while Gilski also got a third place finish in the 50-yard butterfly with Gissen and Andrew Henry finishing eighth and ninth respectively in the same event.
Bateman took second in the 50-yard backstroke, tied for 15th in the 50-butterfly, 12th in the 100-individual medley, tenth in the 100-yard backstroke and was part of an EMU relay squad that posted a sixth place in the 200-freestyle relay.
Henry grabbed the only individual victory for the Eagles in the entire invitational with a win in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.88, and finished nearly a full second ahead of Gianni Ferrero of Grand Valley State University and Nicholas Hooper of Old Dominion University.
Moore earned fifth in the 200-free and another fifth in the 100-yard freestyle (47.93) while Everson finished sixth .14 seconds behind him in the same event.
In the men’s 500-yard freestyle, Marcin Rzyski and Kyle Lichtenburg placed fourth and fifth respectively.
Old Dominion University won in the men’s standings with 687 points with Grand Valley State University finishing in second ahead of EMU.
The women’s swim team had a relay squad of Alexis Mitcheltree, Genna Worthley, Jessie Godlewski, and Makenzie Garringer place fifth in the 200-yard medley relay.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the relay squad of Godlewski, Jackie Swartz, Mary Kate Maclean and Rebecca Detro placed eighth.
Mitcheltree participated in the 100-yard backstroke and finished fifth while Godlewski took home a tenth place finish in the 50-yard butterfly.
Worthley took a pair of runner-up finishes in the 50-yard breaststroke and fourth in the 100-breaststroke.
Detro claimed tenth in the 200-yard freestyle. Maclean had a busy afternoon with eighth place finishes in the 50- and 100- freestyle, tied for 20th in the 50-yard backstroke with Colleen VandePoel of Old Dominion as well as being part of an EMU relay team that placed seventh in the 200-medley relay.
The University of New Mexico won the women’s events with a tally of 554 points with FIU, Duquesne University, and Florida Atlantic University finishing ahead of the Eagles.
Senior Sabrina Beaupre of Florida International swept the women’s one-meter and three-meter dives.
Florida Atlantic swept the men’s diving events with Ryan McIntire claiming victory in the one-meter dive while Greg Cox took a win in the three-meter dive. The Eagles did not have a diver place in the events.
Both teams continue the 2013-14 regular season Friday, Jan. 10 with a road dual meet at Denison University. Both squads will return to the Jones Natatorium with a dual meet against Michigan State University Jan. 18.
