Eastern Michigan Men Win 33rd Mid-American Conference Title

2016 MEN’S MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 2- Saturday, March 5, 2016
• Jones Natatorium, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan (Central Time Zone)
• Wednesday Timed Finals 7PM, Prelims 11AM / Finals 7PM (Thurs-Sat.)
• Defending Champion: Eastern Michigan (2015 results and recap here.)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central, @MACSports: Twitter/Instagram | #MACtion
• MVC Teams: Missouri State Bears, Eastern Michigan Eagles, Buffalo Bulls, Southern Illinois Salukis, Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, Ball State Cardinals, Evansville Purple Aces.

The Eastern Michigan Eagles have successfully defended their Mid-American Conference Championship, making it two in a row.  This is the 33rd MAC crown in program history, and the 23rd under Head Coach Peter Linn.  On the final day of the Championship, the Eagles were not the only team to log impressive performances, but setting three Conference Meet Records, and winning four events including one with a 1-3 sweep, left no doubt that they were the strongest MAC team in 2016.

1650 FREESTYLE

1. Miguel Davila, SR, Missouri State 15:16.07
2. Minki Kang, FR, Missouri State 15:18.41
3. Charles Barry, JR, Buffalo 15:21.21

Missouri State’s Miguel Davila and teammate Minki Kang began the final session of the Mid-American Conference Championship with a one-two punch for the Bears, taking the mile at 15:16.07 and 15:18.41 respectively.  This was a hard-fought title defense for Davila, as he was not the leader throughout but separated himself from his contenders over the last 300 yards of the race.  Buffalo capitalized on 3rd and 4th place finishes with Charles Barry and Reid Zyniecki touching at 15:21.21 and 15:24.22.  SIU’s Michael Wolfe (15:30.10) and Trevor Jones (15:33.10) touched at 5th and 6th, followed by the Eagles’ Kyle Lichtenberg (15:36.48) and Chris Cutter (15:38.34) who closed out the top eight.

200 BACKSTROKE

1. Cole Bateman, JR, Eastern Michigan 1:44.51
2. Erik Gissen, SR, Eastern Michigan 1:45.41
3. Tosh Kawaguchi, FR, Eastern Michigan 1:45.82

Eastern Michigan pretty much put a fork in the team race after their domination of the 200 backstroke, placing five swimmers in the top eight and making a complete sweep of the bronze, silver and gold medals.  Cole Bateman (1:44.51,) Erik Gissen (1:45.41,) and Tosh Kawaguchi (1:45.82) claimed the top three spots on podium, joined by teammates Ricky Perez who took 6th with 1:46.73 and Chris Cutter who took 8th with 1:52.14.  Southern Illinois claimed 4th and 7th place points with Alex Crawford at 1:46.04 and Alex Netzel at 1:48.01.  Miami’s Jake Prodoehl snuck in between the Eagles and Salukis with a 1:46.34 for 5th place points.

100 FREESTYLE

1. Andrew Henry, SR, Eastern Michigan 43.34  *(MAC Conference, Meet and Pool Record.)
2. Uvis Kalnins, SR, Missouri State 43.56
3. Till Pallmann, SR, Southern Illinois 43.76

Eastern Michigan’s Andrew Henry got ahead and stayed there in the 100 freestyle, touching with the only sub-21 second split in the field at 20.78, and holding strong to take his second individual title and MAC Record for the weekend.  Henry’s 43.34 breaks the 43.40 mark set last year by EMU’s Brian Moore.  Missouri State’s Uvis Kalnins and SIU’s Till Pallman both joined Henry under 44 seconds, touching in 43.56 and 43.76 respectively for silver and bronze.  SIU’s Andre Luiz Brilhante got his hand to the wall at 44.42 for 4th, edging just ahead of a tight pack that consisted of EMU’s Jake Tyson (44.45,) Buffalo’s Mason Miller (44.53,) and Miami’s Lucas Brock (44.60.)  Buffalo’s Antonio Lanzi was 8th with 45.03.

200 BREASTSTROKE

1. Artur Osvath, FR, Missouri State 1:55.04  *(Pool Record.)
2. Scott Huang, JR, Buffalo 1:57.29
3. Christopher Heye, SO, Missouri State 1:57.56

Missouri State landed four swimmers in the top 8 for the 200 breast, led by standout freshman Artur Osvath who finished over two seconds ahead of the nearest competitor at 1:55.04.  That time was good enough to break the Jones Natatorium Pool Record in the event, and lowered his own MSU Team Record as well.  Fellow Bear Christopher Heye made a surge on the last 50, passing Buffalo’s Garrett Clarke (1:57.85) for 3rd.  Heye gained ground on Buffalo’s Scott Huang as well, but finished just short at 1:57.56 to Huang’s 1:57.29.  Missouri State’s Uldis Tazans was 5th at 1:59.45.  Eastern Michigan claimed 6th and 7th with 1:59.78 and 2:00.75 respectively from Kyle Aerne and Christopher Hodges, while Isaac Springer took 8th in 2:01.46 for the Bears.

200 BUTTERFLY

1. Filippo Dell’Olio, JR, Southern Illinois 1:46.54
2. Logan Burton, SO, Eastern Michigan 1:46.73
3. Lucas Aquino, JR, Southern Illinois 1:47.04

Filippo Dell’Olio was in fifth place and almost three seconds behind the leader with 50 yards to go in the 200 butterfly, before mowing everybody down with a stunning 26.41 final split to take the MAC Crown by just .19 for the Salukis.  EMU’s Logan Burton managed to hold off another hard-charging Saluki, touching at 1:46.73 for silver over the 1:47.04 bronze medal finish from Defending Champion and MAC Record Holder Lucas Aquino.  Missouri State’s Kacper Cwiek was close behind them in 4th with 1:47.11.  Buffalo’s Zach Towers (1:48.62,) Miami’s Rob Newman (1:49.08,) EMU’s Krzysztof Gilski (1:51.01,) and EMU’s Marcin Rzyski (1:53.06) claimed 4th through 8th places.

3-METER DIVING

1. Alex Chan, JR, Eastern Michigan 422.75  *(MAC Meet and Pool Record.)
2. Daniel Gironza, JR, Eastern Michigan 379.75
3. Troy Birdsall, JR, Buffalo 372.40

Eastern Michigan’s Alex Chan completed his sweep of the 2016 MAC diving events, taking the 3-meter springboard title for the third year in a row with 422.75 points.  That score was good enough to break the MAC Meet Record as well as the Jones Natatorium Pool Record. Chan is joined in the A-final by three more Eagle teammates, with Daniel Gironza in 2nd with 379.75, Peter Rusenas in 4th with 342.20, and Thomas Gillis 5th with 335.95 points.  Buffalo racked up big points as well with Troy Birdsall (372.40,) Dan Roche (290.10,) and Nick Rodriguez (289.35) for 3rd, 7th and 8th respectively.  Miami’s Cole Fryman was 6th with 335.20 points.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY

1. Eastern Michigan Eagles 2:55.23 *(MAC Conference, Meet and Pool Record.)
2. Southern Illinois Salukis 2:56.99
3. Buffalo Bulls 2:57.39

Eastern Michigan closed out their 33rd MAC Team Championship performance with an exclamation point in the 400 freestyle relay.  The Eagles squad of Andrew Henry (43.61,) Erik Gissen (43.69,) Logan Burton (44.43,) and Jake Tyson (43.50) combined for 2:55.23 which was good enough to take down the MAC Conference and Meet Record, along with the Jones Natatorium Pool Record.  The Eagles led the race from start to finish, crushing the record set by Buffalo in 2012 by over a second.  Southern Illinois held off Buffalo for silver, with a 43.36 anchor from Andre Luiz Brilhante, finishing at 2:56.99 over the Bulls’ 2:57.39.  Missouri State (2:57.65,) Miami (2:59.89,) Ball State (3:04.39,) and Evansville (3:05.10) closed out the rest of the scoring.

Final team scores:

1. Eastern Michigan 846
2. Buffalo 649
3. Missouri State 634
4. Southern Illinois 528
5. Miami (Ohio) 449
6. Ball State 147
7. Evansville 142