STUEBENVILLE – The Wilmington College women’s swimming team picked up victories over Hiram College (119-50) and Franciscan University (126-43) in a double dual meet Saturday. The meet was held at Stuebenville High School due to Hiram’s pool being under construction.
The WC men’s swim team defeated Hiram College 87-16. Franciscan did not field a men’s team at the meet.
“We had an opportunity today to swim some different events,” WC head coach Trip Breen said. “The team continues to make adjustments and it’s nice when you see someone apply something that we have been working on in practice. With that being said, we still have a lot that we need to continue to work on as we move forward with our season.”
On the women’s side, Wilmington captured first place honors in 10-of-16 events including winning both relays. The Fightin’ Quaker squad of Macki Leon, Rebecca Curran, Hannah Davis and Margaret Hover won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:01.40 while Hover and Davis anchored the 200-yard freestyle relay team (1:50.20) that also included Fynn Roberts and Anna Endsley.
Three Wilmington swimmers won two individual events. Leon won the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.86) and the 400-yard IM (5:03.68) while Hover claimed first-place honors in the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle (2:08.21). Alyssa Harper took home 200-yard butterfly (2:35.64) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:56.24).
Other individuals to win events were Davis in the 100-yard butterfly (1:10.56) and Kadie Grundy in the 200-yard backstroke (2:30.27).
Olivia Bender, according to Breen, also had won of her best meets in her young career.
“Olivia Bender had a couple of nice swims,” said Bree. “She raced her first mile. In the second session of the meet, she just missed her lifetime best swim in the 500-yard freestyle. She is really training well and it is paying off.”
For the men, Wilmington captured first place honors in 13-of-16 events including winning both relays. The Fightin’ Quaker squad of Brody Morris, Logan Schroer, Jared Shoemaker and Reid Ashcraft won the 200-yard medley relay (2:01.16) while Ashcraft swam the third leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:40.85), along with Noah Arend, Samuel Wallace and Isak Alin.
Alin won two individual events in addition to his relay triumph, claiming the 100-yard freestyle (57.48 seconds) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.22). Samuel Shanes was the other Quaker to earn two individual victories – the 100-yard breaststroke (1:11.19) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:36.25).
Matt Allen won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:48.15. According to Breen, Allen has made some corrections to his stroke in the event and they’ve paid off.
“Matt Allen is a versatile swimmer for us, and is putting some things together that will absolutely payoff for him,” said Breen. “We spoke about a few things that he could do differently after one of his earlier races, and he did an outstanding job of making those corrections.”
Other event winners for Wilmington included Schroer in the 50-yard freestyle (23.89 seconds), Mike Austin in the 100-yard freestyle (1:01.21), Nicholas Keller in the 100-yard backstroke (1:22.35), Aaron Polk in the 200-yard butterfly (2:16.85), Morris in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:36.63) and Ashcraft in the 200-yard backstroke (2:20.60).
“This has been a great group that supports each other and has fun,” Breen said. “They have been getting better every week and I am excited to see what they can do over the next two weeks of competition.”
Wilmington returns to the pool Saturday for a dual meet with Manchester University.
