Preview: Ohio Northern Men's Swimming & Diving team looks for its 10th consecutive OAC crown in 2013-14
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's swimming and diving team is looking to complete its "Decade of Excellence" in style by capturing its tenth consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference title in 2013-14.
The Polar Bear swimming and diving alumni have created a "Decade of Excellence" slogan as a way to celebrate the past successes of the program, and tenth-year head coach Peggy Ewald is embracing that rallying cry as a collective team effort.
"The results over the past nine seasons have been a collective achievement by the men and women who committed to our program goals," Ewald said. "The talent level continues to climb, however the balance truly comes from the combination of talent, hard work, passion and the respect for 'team'. If we continue to broaden our landscape and prepare with focus the outcome will equal our best performances."
She welcomes back 15 lettermen from last year's squad that won the OAC crown by an impressive 236 points.
Add to the mix a talented group of incoming freshman and it's easy to see why optimism is abundant entering the season.
Ewald's men's squads have won the OAC title in each of her previous nine years at the helm.
"We have a freshman class with versatility, talent and great attitudes," Ewald said. "This, combined with our experienced returning team, should be a fun combination to watch. The key ingredient for us will be reaching beyond the comfort zone and our attitude towards change. The talent is there. We have the energy flowing; now we need to put the intensity into our preparation. If we do that, we will be prepared when it counts."
Senior All-American Jordan Breitigam returns to lead the Polar Bears in 2013-14 after being named the OAC Men's Swimmer of the Year.
Breitigam's garnering of the OAC Swimmer of the Year award marked the ninth consecutive year that a Polar Bear swimmer has won the honor.
At the OACs, he won three individual events and was on three winning relay teams, setting OAC and ONU records and surpassing NCAA qualifying marks in all six events.
He won the 100 fly in :49.21 and the 200 fly in 1:49.08, surpassing the NCAA "A" Cut in both events.
Breitigam also won the 200 I.M. in 1:51.63 and was part of ONU's winning 400 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay squads.
Breitigam will enter his senior year as a 10-time OAC champion.
Seniors Erik Arent and John Beaschler also return.
Arent was the 2011 OAC champion in the 200 fly and is a four-time All-OAC performer in the fly events.
Beaschler is a two-time OAC champion as part of ONU's 200 medley relay squads and is a 7-time All-OAC performer.
Juniors Spencer Franzoi, Brian Heilbronner, Christopher Hoffman, Kevin Krivanek, Jason Luthman and John Willamowski have combined to score 449 career points at the OAC Championships.
Franzoi, Heilbronner and Luthman are OAC champions and Hoffman joins them as an All-OAC honoree.
Sophomores Jacob Croasdell, Tyler Lucian, Zack Martin, Mitchell Murphy, Sean O'Neill and Connor Wood also return after solid freshman campaigns.
The seven-man freshmen class is very versatile and has a lot of talent to compliment the rest of the team. Look for a big finish this season for the Polar Bears.
"With tradition comes responsibility," Ewald said. "We have a complete coaching staff this season who collectively have knowledge, experience, talent and tenacity on their side.
"With tradition comes responsibility. We have set forth many traditions over the past nine seasons and now we have the responsibility to uphold those and push beyond. We look to repeat as conference champions and look to be on the national stage at the NCAA Championships."