The Ohio State Buckeye 9th ranked men’s squad traveled down the road to Granville, Ohio for a dual meet with Denison in OSU’s first meet of the new year. OSU won with a final score of 189 to Denison’s 111, despite missing numerous top swimmers from their lineup, most notably Josh Fleagle, DJ Macdonald, and Steven Zimmerman.
The Buckeyes, who kicked off the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:33.06), won nine swimming events and swept diving en route to their 78-point victory over Denison. Directly after that medley win, OSU freshman Brayden Seal swam a big 9:23.91 in the 1000 free, breaking the pool record in the process. Seal won by over 20 seconds over teammate Matt Moen (9:49.61).
OSU put on a clinic in the breaststroke and backstroke, winning the 100 and 200 of each. In the 100 breast, it was Jack Barone who took the event with a 57.73, and Buckeye Chris Cowley finished on top in the 200 breast (2:06.45), leading a 1-2-3 finish for OSU. Andrew Appleby, who put down the best backstroke split on the 200 medley relay, won the 100 back in 50.19, followed by teammate Rowan Williams (50.62). Williams would later dominate the 200 back, where his time of 1:50.32 knocked off the next best swimmer by nearly three seconds.
The Buckeyes’ racked up another 1-2 finish in the 200 fly. David Morgan cruised to a time of 1:51.21 to win the event over teammate Peter Lyon (1:53.82). Michael DiSalle clocked a win in the 100 free (45.51) to add to his top finish in the 50 free (21.14). DiSalle wasn’t the only double winner for OSU, as 200 fly winner Morgan also took the 200 IM (1:53.43) and diver Stephen Ettienne downed pool records in both the 1 meter (360.08) and 3 meter (390.30) diving events en route to double diving victories. Ettienne led 1-2-3 sweeps in both the 1 and 3 meter.
Denison, who has finished 1st or 2nd at Division III NCAA Championship meets the last five years, did grab a few events against an Ohio State team that hasn’t been ranked worse than 12th in CSCAA polls since November 13th of 2014. The Big Red’s Andrew Rich clocked a win in the 100 fly (50.80), and freshman Stuart Hohm of Springfield, IL, was a double winner. He took top honors in the 200 free (1:42.42) and the 500 free (4:40.41), leading Big Red 1-2-3 finishes in both events. No Michael DiSalle on the Buckeyes’ 400 free relay proved costly, as Denison surprised them with a win in the final relay by over a second, nabbing a Division III B cut with a time of 3:04.45 to OSU’s 3:05.76.
Tomorrow is Denison’s final home dual meet of the season as they’ll host another Division I opponent, Pittsburgh, at 1pm. OSU will take on a conference foe in Michigan State on January 23rd at 4pm ET in East Lansing, MI.
