Findlay Men and Women Take Top Spot vs Hillsdale / Lewis
Findlay, Ohio – The University of Findlay men's and women's swimming and diving teams took on the Hillsdale College Chargers and the Lewis University Flyers in a tri-meet on Saturday, Nov. 12 in the Sink Natatorium. The Oilers men, ranked seventh in the country, came away with a win over Lewis 153-to-107 while the women defeated both Lewis and Hillsdale. Hillsdale does not field a men's program.
Men
Findlay picked up a dominating victory over Lewis, winning 12 events and picking up five runner-up finishes on Saturday afternoon.
The first win of the day came in the 200 yard medley relay where junior Tim Stollings, junior Daniel Garcia, sophomore Camilo Marrugo, and junior Dags Bregis teamed up to take top spot with a time of 1:30.64. Freshman Randy Keener II, junior Luca Chiandussi, junior Adam Hornak, and junior Aidan Shue also competed in that event and finished just three seconds later at 1:33.67 to take runner-up.
Garcia then swam in the 1000 yard freestyle where he set a personal best in the event with a 9:52.11 to take first while Marrugo got back in the pool in the 200 yard freestyle, taking first with a 1:41.68. Garcia also won the 500 free with a 4:43.68 while Marrugo added another victory later, winning the 100 yard freestyle with a 45.37. Adding to what was an incredibly busy day in the water, Garcia added yet another victory late in the meet, this time in the 400 yard IM. He won that race with a time of 4:06.13.
Chiandussi earned a victory in the 50 yard breaststroke, winning the event with a 26.07, and later won the 100 yard breaststroke, touching the wall in a time of 57.77.
Bregis set a season-best early in the 2022-23 campaign, finishing the 100 yard butterfly in a time of 50.42 to take first.
In the 50 yard freestyle, Stollings won a tightly contested race, clocking in a 21.33, just a tenth of a second ahead of Lewis' runner-up finisher. The Prichard, WV native also won the 50 yard butterfly, taking top spot with a 22.20.
The meet wrapped up with the 200 yard freestyle relay. Marrugo, Stollings, Bregis, and sophomore Angel Margaritov took to the water and came out with the victory, finishing in a time of 1:23.07.
Women
It has become the top rivalry in Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) swimming. Findlay and Hillsdale. The Oilers won G-MAC Championships in 2018 and 2019, but Hillsdale has won the three conference titles since then. Today, it was Findlay who got the better of the Chargers, also taking down Lewis in the process.
The first win came right away in the 200 yard medley relay. Sophomore Sasha Melnyk, freshman Katie Susi, sophomore Macy May, and sophomore Sydney Jones teamed up to take first with a 1:47.42. May squared off in the 100 yard butterfly and took second to Hillsdale but beat Lewis with a time of 58.31. She finished just .23 seconds off the lead.
Jones, swimming in the 50 yard freestyle, took second to Hillsdale but beat Lewis, finishing in a time of 24.83, .03 seconds off the leader. She later took second in the 100 free, but defeated Lewis, touching the wall in 54.18.
Melnyk later put together a time of 26.79 in the 50 yard backstroke, a season-best time to take first place. Another first place finish came in the 100 yard backstroke where she set another season-best with a 57.94.
Freshman Ella Hochstetler won the 50 yard butterfly with a 26.77, just a couple tenths of a second ahead of teammate Macy May (26.98).
The final win of the day came in the last event, the 200 yard freestyle relay. Freshman Troie Grubbs, Hochstetler, May, and Jones all swam sub-25 second splits to take first with a time of 1:38.09. May owned the fastest split, swimming her 50 yards in a time of 24.09.
Freshman Macee Reckard finished second in the 200 freestyle, but picked up the win against Hillsdale. She had a time of 1:57.87 in the 200 and later, took second in the 500 free, defeating Lewis, with a time of 5:22.46. Katie Susi had the same situation in the 50 yard breaststroke, taking runner-up to Lewis but defeating Hillsdale in the process. She had a time of 30.84.
The Oilers will be back in action on Dec.1 at the Calvin Winter Invite in Grand Rapids Michigan. It is scheduled to begin at 6pm.