2012 OAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships - Day 3 Recap

The No. 11-ranked Ohio Northern men’s swimming and diving team won its eighth consecutive title by winning four events on the third and final day of the 2012 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships Thursday night at the University of Akron’s Ocasek Natatorium.

ONU won the title with 1,036 points. John Carroll was second with 693 points, Mount Union was third with 528, Baldwin-Wallace was fourth with 311, Wilmington was fifth with 277 and OAC newcomer Defiance was sixth with 51 points.

Northern won 15 of the 20 events in the championships.

Ohio Northern senior Michael Schultz was named the OAC Men’s Swimmer of the Year for the fourth time in his career.

Schultz won his fourth OAC title in the 1650 free and completed his 2012 sweep of the distance events in the process.

He lapped the field twice, leading ONU to a 1-2-3 finish, and touched in an NCAA “B” Cut time of 15:56.94. Earlier in the week, Schultz also won the 200 and 500 free events, setting NCAA “B” Cuts in both events.

ONU senior Nick Meyer was named the OAC Diver of the Year after sweeping the diving events on the weekend. On Saturday, Meyer won the 1-meter diving with a score of 455.35.

The Polar Bears finished 1-2-3 in the 1650 free as Northern freshman Chris Hoffman was second in 16:53.53 and ONU junior Jeff Zeleznik was third in 17:03.75.

Mount Union junior Rob Brocious won the 200 back in 1:56.06.

John Carroll finished 1-2-3 in the 100 free with senior Alex Vereshchagin tying his own OAC record with a winning time of :45.89, which also surpassed the NCAA “B” Cut standard.

Senior Brendan Schloendorn finished second in :46.28 and sophomore Nick Holvey was third in :46.46.

Ohio Northern junior Drew Keriazes set OAC and ONU records and surpassed the NCAA “B” Cut in 2:06.05 to win the 200 breast for the third consecutive year.

Ohio Northern sophomore Jordan Breitigam shattered a 32-year old OAC record in the 200 fly on Saturday, winning the event in 1:50.43. He broke the previous mark of 1:54.31, set by Tim Glasser of Kenyon in 1980, by 3.88 seconds.

His time of 1:50.43 was an NCAA “B” Cut and missed the “A” Cut by just .04 of a second.

Polar Bear teammates sophomore Erik Arent and junior Marc Anderson made it a 1-2-3 sweep by finishing in 1:55.48 and 1:55.98, respectively.

John Carroll won the final event of the championships, taking the 400 free relay in 3:04.90.