The Wilmington College swim teams opened their seasons Friday with loss to Ohio Northern University. The men were defeated 186 to 70 while the women lost 203 to 59.
“Both teams made progress this week, and it showed along with the great atmosphere this evening,” WC head coach Trip Breen said. “We have a lot of underclassmen that are starting to swim with more confidence. The team in general, but specifically some of our new swimmers, made some great corrections this week. We have a lot to do moving forward, but this evening was a step in the right direction.”
For the women, sophomore Sierra Szuhay won her first collegiate swim, the 100-meter backstroke in 1:14.16. The Jefferson, Ohio, native also took third in the 50-meter backstroke (34.43 seconds) and the 100-meter IM (1:18.19)
Other Fightin’ Quaker individuals to finish in the top of three of events including Maryn Herring’s third-place swim of 33.92 seconds in the 50-meter butterfly, McKenzie Danhoff’s 50-meter breaststroke time of 40.06 seconds and Audrey Bibb touching the wall in 31.17 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle. Interestingly, Bibb also tied with teammate Peyton Mullins to share a third-place finish with swims of 1:07.31 in the 100-meter freestyle.
In relay events, Szuhay, Danhoff, Herring and Bibb completed the 200-meter medley relay in 2:18.01 to take third while Bibb teamed up with Ashley Carlson, Emma Thompson and Anna Endsley for a 2:06.12 time in the 200-meter freestyle relay.
On the men’s side, WC freshman Jacob Worley won his first collegiate swim, the 50-meter freestyle in 26.36 seconds.
Though he didn’t quite win an event, Michael Phillippe had a standout evening for the Fightin’ Quakers, placing second in both the 50-meter backstroke (30.70 seconds) and the 100-meter backstroke (1:06.74) while taking third place in the 100-meter IM (1:05.20).
Teammate Dane Klosterman finished just behind Phillippe in the 50-meter backstroke (31.20 seconds). Cameron Bolen was the other Quaker to tally two runner-up swims, tapping the wall in 31.87 seconds in the 50-meter breaststroke and in 1:11.75 in the 100-meter breaststroke. Austin Reed turned in two top-three finishes in sprint freestyle events with swims of 58.18 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle and 2:07.99 in the 200-meter freestyle.
Other Wilmington individuals to earn top-three individual finished included Logan Lippert’s runner-up swim in the 50-meter butterfly (26.48 seconds) and Aaron’s Polk’s time of 1:06.26 in the 100-meter butterfly.
In relay events, Phillippe, Bolen, Worley and Polk took second in the 200-meter medley relay with a time of 1:54.52.
Wilmington heads to Lexington, Ky. Saturday for a double dual meet with Wittenberg University and host Transylvania University.
