HIRAM – The Wilmington College men’s swim team defeated Hiram 106-93, a day after falling to Ohio Northern in Ohio Athletic Conference action.

“I thought we demonstrated some general progress,” WC coach Trip Breen said. “We’re starting to see the confidence we need to see to move forward with the season. This new found confidence gives us a lot to look forward to as we go into our end of the semester invitational at Ohio Wesleyan.”

The Fightin’ Quakers head to a two-day invitational hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University Friday and Saturday of next week to close out the semester.

Senior Alex Tillapaugh, juniors Cody Nash and Lawrence Daya, and sophomore Frederick Rankin won the 200-meter medley relay in 1:55.09.

Andrew Stewart, a Clinton-Massie graduate, later dove in for the 50-meter freestyle where he blew away the competition by two seconds, earning first with a time of 24.65. Moments later he competed in the 100-meter freestyle, where he claimed first again, this time by a margin of half a second, 55.35.

Rankin earned a first-place individual finish in the 200-meter IM. Nash got his hand on the wall in 1:14.52 in the 100-meter breaststroke to earn first-place. Nash also claimed third-place in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:11.05. He finished just behind senior teammate David Bellus in the event. Bellus got to the wall in 2:10.46 for second-place.

Freshman Samuel Shanes claimed another first-place finish for the Fightin’ Quakers in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 10:05.14.

Bellus placed second in the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:06.74. He was followed by Tillapaugh who touched the wall in 1:07.10 for third.

On Friday, the Fightin’ Quakers fell to the Polar Bears, 172-89, at the WC Natatorium.

Nash earned the Fightin’ Quakers’ first individual win in the 800-meter freestyle. He completed the 32-laps in 9:23.77, blowing past the rest of the field by more than four seconds. He then hopped up on the blocks for the 100-meter breaststroke, surpassing the field yet again, this time by a margin of 0.5 seconds with a time of 1:11.95. The 100-meter individual medley followed, an unusual event for Nash. Still, he was the Fightin’ Quakers’ top finisher, earning third-place in 1:07.03.

Nash then joined forces with Stewart, Tillapaugh and Bellus to finish second in the 200-meter freestyle relay in 1:42.09.

Stewart had two individual event wins in the opener, winning the 50 free in 23.82 seconds and the 100 free in 56 seconds.

Stewart, Tillapaugh, Daya and Rankin teamed to finish as runnersup in the 200 medley relay in 1:53.21.

In addition to his relay performance, Rankin finished first in the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 32.06.

“Cody Nash raced really well,” Breen said. “He had great wins in both of his events. Andrew Stewart also had an impressive night. A 23.8 this early in the season is phenomenal. I’m excited to see where the rest of the season takes both of these swimmers.”