No. 25 Men's Swimming & Diving finishes third at Calvin (Mich.) Winter Invitational

By Tim Glon

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Junior John Raker and senior Zach Martin each won events to lead the No. 25-ranked Ohio Northern men's swimming and diving team to a third place finish at the Calvin (Mich.) Winter Invitational Friday and Saturday at the Venema Aquatic Center.

Raker won the 400 I.M. in 4:18.94 and was second in the 200 fly in 2:01.67, while Martin won the 1650 free in 17:22.17 to lead the Polar Bears.

No. 20-ranked Calvin (Mich.) won the team title with 967.5 points, No. 24 Carthage (Wis.) was second with 927 points, Ohio Northern was third with 791.5 points and No. 35 Albion (Mich.) was fourth with 698 points.

"We raced some great Division III teams that really challenged us and will ultimately help us become better prepared for races further into the season," ONU head coach Peggy Ewald said. "I'm happy we were able to step out of our comfort zone to gain more experience. Every step, small or large is a step in the progression of the season.

"In the past this invite was held in mid January. It proved much more effective to move it to early November  giving us an opportunity to race a championships lineup early before the mid season big invite and travel north before the cold and snow become travel concerns. Calvin's facilities are amazing. We relish the opportunity to race in such grand venues. We have many areas to improve, the meet gave us a clear picture what has to be done next. Now we need to do the work to take another rung up the ladder."

Five other Polar Bears had top four finishes in individual events.

Sophomore Trevor Keriazes was second in the 100 breast in :59.17 and was third in the 200 I.M. in 2:00.09.

Sophomore Gabe Dauch and freshman Pete He each posted third place finishes. Dauch was third in the 100 back in :54.05 and He was third in the 100 fly in :53.35.

Senior Sean O'Neill was fourth in the 200 fly in 2:03.19 and junior Eric Chen was fourth in the 100 free in :48.02.

The Polar Bears will return to action Friday at Wittenberg.