Oilers Flex Their Muscle on Day Two of Conference Championships
Canton, Ohio – The University of Findlay men's and women's swimming and diving teams each continued their runs at repeating as conference champions on Thursday, Feb. 14 as they both extended their leads on Day 2 of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) & Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship. Findlay's women sit comfortably in first with 962 points while second place Hillsdale has 715. On the men's side the Oilers have tallied 767 points thus far while Tiffin sits at 655 in second and West Virginia Wesleyan in third at 467.5.
The first final of the evening was the women's 200 yard freestyle, an event that the Oilers took first place in last season. This year was the same result as the team of senior Amanda Stiegal, freshman Christina McFarland, junior Hanna Cederholm, and freshman Kendra Polewski teamed up to finish in a time of 1:35.02, more than a full second ahead of the second place team. Powleski later took part in the 200 yard freestyle and finished in second place with a 'B cut' time of 1:53.20. As the top G-MAC finisher, Polewski secured first team all-conference honors for her efforts. Stiegal, who earned the top seed in qualifying, finished in fourth and earned honorable mention all-conference with a time of 1:53.74.
Immediately following in the men's 200 free relay, the Oilers men also defended 2018's championship in the event with a first place finish of their own. Junior Trent Williams, junior Isaac Stretch, sophomore Nathan Bourne, and freshman Mark Whitaker combined to finish the race in a time of 1:24.93. Whitaker also participated in the 100 yard butterfly and took honorable mention honors with a time of 50.97.
In the women's 100 butterfly, it was a special day for junior Katy Kouvaris as she earned the title of conference champion in the event, beating the field with a time of 56.07, a meet record and a conference record. Just behind Kouvaris was Christina McFarland who finished with a time of 56.15 to earn honorable mention all-conference.
Sophomore Ashton Klopp earned honorable mention all-conference with a third place finish in the women's 400 yard IM, touching the wall in a time of 4:41.96.
Freshman Paul Pavala then took the same spot in the men's 400 IM, finishing in a time of 4:08.14 to take third place and secure honorable mention all-conference. Pavala narrowly out touched fellow freshman Tyler Endecott who took fourth with a time of 4:09.34.
To wrap up the evening, the Oilers men and women each took runner-up in their respective 400 yard medley relays. Sophomore Payton Zess, junior Julia Snell, sophomore Ashton Klopp, and senior Jenna Dasher finished in a time of 3:53.63 on the women's side while senior Trae Gulgin, Stretch, Whitaker, and junior Mark Billeaud touched the wall in 3:23.56. Both squads earned honorable mention all-conference for their finishes.
The third of four days of competition will begin tomorrow with qualifying races starting at 10:00am and finals beginning at 6:00pm.