TIGERS BATTLE IN DUAL AGAINST DEPAUW

GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The Olivet Nazarene University men's and women's swimming & diving teams opened the new year with a dual at Depauw Saturday afternoon. The men came away with a 131-131 tie while the women fell 163-104.

Julie Vega won a pair of individual events to lead the ONU women. She touched the wall first in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:06.08 before winning the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:27.51. Halle Briner and Ashley Perry both won individual events, as well, with the former taking down the 100-freestyle (54.56) and the latter going first in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.74).

Briner continued her strong day with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:59.00) while Perry found the podium in the 50-yard freestyle in third place (25.92). Kayla Parry placed in two events, going third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.08) before finishing runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly (1:01.39). Taylor King placed second in the 200-yard IM (2:17.31) and Faith Markley finished third in the 200-yard butterfly (2:31.66).

Grace Barnhart and Katelyn Inman were double runner-ups at the dual meet. Barnhart led ONU in the distance events, placing second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:29.39) and the 1000-yard freestyle (11:23.06) while Inman placed second in both backstroke events at 1:01.82 in the 100-yard and 2:14.19 in the 200-yard.

The ONU men won seven individual events and a relay, with Mason Beall and Jack Fries both winning a pair of individual titles. Beall finished first in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.81) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:56.65), while Fries was the winner of both the 100-yard backstroke (53.40) and the 100-yard freestyle (48.11).

Three Tigers placed first or second in multiple events: Aleks Parsetich excelled in the distance events, winning the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:31.76 before finishing runner-up behind Beall in the 500-yard freestyle (5:02.09), Ollie Shead took down the 100-yard butterfly in 53.29 while also finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:48..93), and Ethan Holwerda won the 200-yard IM (2:03.29) and went second in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.83)

Porter Hoffman placed third in the 100-yard butterfly (54.27) before finishing runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle at 22.02. Timothy Braun was right behind him in the 50-yard freestyle, placing third in 22.18. Braun then earned a runner-up finish of his own in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.13.

Ryan Harrison had a productive day in the pool, placing second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:09.40) and third in the 100-yard backstroke (58.56). Rafael Santiago placed runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:01.92 and Bryce Rodriguez finished third in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:10.68.

The ONU men wrapped the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the quartet of Hoffman, Fries, Shead, and Braun clocking in at 1:26.48 to leg out Depauw by .18 seconds to win the event.

The Tigers will return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 20 to take on a tri-meet against Crossroads foes Indiana Wesleyan and Bethel (Ind.). The competition is set to begin at noon CST. 

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu