No. 11 Men's Swimming & Diving leads after Day 1 of OAC Championships
By: Tim Glon
The No. 11-ranked Ohio Northern men's swimming and diving team won three of five events, setting two OAC records and surpassing three NCAA "B" Cuts, to lead after Day 1 of the 2012 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships Thursday night at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium.
ONU holds an 82-point lead after five of the 20 events with 272 points. John Carroll is second with 190 points, Mount Union is third with 136, Wilmington is fourth with 84, Baldwin-Wallace is fifth with 44 and OAC newcomer Defiance is sixth with 11 points.
The Polar Bears are gunning for their eighth consecutive OAC Championships title under eighth-year head coach Peggy Ewald.
The 200 free relay team of sophomore John Beaschler, senior Anders Samuelson, junior Drew Keriazes and sophomore Christian Garlock earned All-Conference accolades with a second place finish in 1:24.76.
Senior All-American Michael Schultz won his fourth OAC crown in the 500 free, finishing more than five seconds ahead of the field in an NCAA "B" Cut of 4:33.07.
Schultz, the three-time OAC Men's Swimmer of the Year in 2008, 09 and 10, has now won a school-record 17 OAC titles.
Freshman Chris Hoffman earned All-Conference accolades with a third place finish in 4:46.97.
Keriazes broke the ONU and OAC records and surpassed the NCAA "B" Cut in the 200 I.M., winning the event in 1:53.51.
Keriazes, the 2011 OAC Men's Swimmer of the Year, is now a three-time champion in the event.
Sophomore Jordan Breitigam also surpassed the NCAA "B" Cut in the 200 I.M., earning All-OAC accolades with a second place finish in 1:54.12.
For the eighth consecutive season, ONU won the men's 400 medley relay.
The Polar Bear squad of freshman Brian Heilbronner, Keriazes, Breitigam and Schultz broke OAC and ONU records by winning in 3:27.62.
Day two of the three-day championships will continue on Friday.