Oilers Crush Day Three of Conference Championships
Canton, Ohio – On Friday, Feb. 15 the University of Findlay men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued to extend their leads in Day 3 the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) and Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship. The Oiler women sit in first place with 1452.5 points, while Hillsdale comes in close behind with 1194.5 for second and Malone with 646 for third. Findlay's men are ahead with 1133 total points, out swimming Tiffin in second with 937 and third place West Virginia Wesleyan College with 687.5.
In the first finals event of the evening, Sarah Miles and Kendra Polewski took second and third respectively to earn honorable mention all-conference honors in the 500 yard freestyle finals. Miles swam a 5:08.44 race while Polewski finished with a 5:10.92.
Chris McFarland earned the conference champion title in the 100 yard backstroke, tying the meet record with a 'B cut' time of 56.23. Payton Zess was also on the podium for the Oilers in the backstroke event with a third place finish of 57.32 to earn herself an honorable mention all-conference title.
In the men's 100 yard backstroke finals, Trae Gulgin beat the meet record of 51.78 with a second place finishing time of 50.79. His efforts will earned him a spot on the honorable mention all-conference list.
Hanna Cederholm and Julia Snell took second and third place in the women's 100 yard breaststroke finals, earning them both honorable mention all-conference honors. Cederholm's second place finish was a 'B cut' time of 1:03.51 while Snell touched the wall at 1:04.89.
Beating out the meet record of 56.99, Isaac Stretch's second place finish in the men's 100 yard breaststroke final was enough to earn him an honorable mention all-conference honor, with a finishing time of 56.84.
After earning the conference champion title in yesterday's 100 yard backstroke finals, Katy Kouvaris swam another amazing race today, but this time in the 200 yard butterfly finals. Kouvaris beat the meet record of 2:05.59 with a finishing time of 2:05.55, earning another conference champion title.
In the men's 200 yard butterfly finals, Paul Pavala and Tucker Stocker took second and third place victories, earning them both honorable mention all-conference honors. Pavala finished with a time of 1:53.20 with Stocker right on his tail with a time of 1:53.70.
In the last event of the night for the women, the Oilers came in second place in the 800 yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:49.93. The honorable mention all-conference honor relay team consisted of Julia Snell, Sarah Miles, Taylor Christensen, and Murphy Vance.
To finish out Day 3, the men claimed the conference champion title in the 800 yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:57.58. The first team all-conference relay winners include Trent Williams, Mark Billeaud, Tyler Endecott, and Tucker Stocker.
The final day of competition will begin tomorrow with qualifying races beginning at 10:00am and finals beginning at 6:00pm.