ONU SWIM & DIVE TEAMS CLOSE OUT REGULAR SEASON WITH STELLAR PERFORMANCES
BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University men's and women's swimming & diving teams closed out their regular season and celebrated their seniors Saturday when they hosted the ONU Tri Invite at the Perry Center. The Tigers took down Aquinas and Wheaton in the triangular meet.
Seven different Tigers won events on the women's side. Allison Pearson took the top spot in all three of her individual events. She helped ONU take the top three spots in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning in 1:05.96 while Julieta Vega was second in 1:06.25 and Megan Schroeder placed third in 1:06.25.
Pearson led the Tigers to another 1-2-3, finishing first in the 100-yard freestyle in 53.79, with Taryn Dailey placing second (55.65) and Schroeder taking third (55.85). Lastly, ONU took the top three spots in the 100-yard butterfly behind Pearson in 58.83. Dailey placed second in the event in 59.11 while Vega placed third in 1:00.62. Dailey won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:10.47 while Vega won the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:29.30.
Halle Briner was the champion in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.44. Grace Barnhart was runner-up at 1:59.18. The duo went 1-2 again, this time in the 400-yard IM, with Briner touching the wall first at 4:41.51 while Barnhart was second at 4:51.36. Barnhart was the winner of 500-yard freestyle in 5:16.06. Katelyn Inman took third (5:24.58).
Paige Howell picked up a pair of wins at the ONU Tri Invite, touching the wall first in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.87) and 200-yard backstroke (2:11.83). Abbie Christensen was the runner-up in both of these events at 1:02.54 and 2:15.71, respectively. Carley Logan was the champion of the meet's longest event, the 1650-yard freestyle, at 18:54.36.
The ONU women won both relays at the ONU Tri Invite, with Howell, Vega, Dailey, and Mia Points taking first in the 400-yard medley relay at 3:59.84 while the team of Schroeder, Logan, Briner, and Pearson touched the wall at 3:40.48 to win the 400-yard freestyle relay.
In total, the ONU women took the top spot in 13 of the 14 swimming events.
Five different Tigers took top spots in the men's meet. Mason Beall continued his dominance in the distance events, winning the 1650-yard freestyle in 17:08.48 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:56.49. Chase Aruskevicius was the runner-up in the latter at 5:05.25.
Jack Fries helped ONU take the top three spots in the 50-yard freestyle. He won in 21.68 while Timothy Braun was second in 21.89 and Porter Hoffman placed third in 22.03. Fries was also the champion of 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:44.65. Braun and Hoffman went 1-2 in the 100-yard freestyle, with Braun finishing first in 48.80 while Hoffman was the runner-up in 49.14.
Nicholas Klenner was was the champion of both backstroke events. He touched the wall at 51.17 to win the 100-yard backstroke and then finished at 1:51.72 to win the 200-yard backstroke. Michael Quintana picked up another win for ONU with a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.17).
The men's quartet of Klenner, Peter Adams, Quintana, and Braun won the 400-yard medley relay in 3:31.08, while Braun, Fries, Hoffman, and Klenner teamed up for a runner-up finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:14.10).
In total, the ONU teams won 23 of the 28 total events.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Tigers will turn their focus to the postseason as they prepare for the 2023 KCAC Swimming & Diving Championships, which will take place February 2-4 at the Dillon Family Aquatics Center in Fremont, Neb.
--ONU—
*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu
