The Oakland women’s swimming and diving team remained unbeaten at home Friday evening as the Golden Grizzlies scored a 150-130 victory over Bowling Green at OU Aquatic Center.
“This was an opportunity for us to swim back-to-back against two really good MAC teams,” Oakland head coach Pete Hovland said, as the squad will also swim Saturday afternoon. “I thought today we responded real well; but we’re halfway there. The true test will be tomorrow and how we handle that.”
The Golden Grizzlies boasted three two-time winners in individual races, as Karin Tomeckova (100 back, 200 back), Patricia Aschan(1000 free, 500 free) and Takara Martin (100 breast, 200 breast) were victorious to lift Oakland. Diver Tricia Grant dove uncontested and gathered first-place points for the Golden Grizzlies.
Oakland started the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay to set the early tone. Tomeckova, Melissa VanderMeulen, Julia Vela and Nikki Flynn touched first with a time of 1:46.45, while the Golden Grizzlies team of Kyra Rietveld, Martin, Lauren Wynalda and Allison Bellford finished second in 1:47.70.
The ensuing race, the 1000 free, was also a 1-2 finish for Oakland. Aschan improved her career best and moved into fifth in team history with a time of 10:20.35. Emily Ludema captured second in 10:33.17. The tandem also 1-2 in the 500 free, with Aschan finishing first in5:03.14 while Ludema placed second in 5:06.25.
Martin had a strong showing in the breaststroke events, as both her winning times were Oakland top 10s. Martin’s mark of 1:04.27 in the 100 breast ranks sixth best in team history, while her time of 2:20.77 in the 200 breast is eighth in team ladders.
Tomeckova swept the backstroke events, starting with a 100 back win in a time of 56.93. She then led an Oakland 1-2-3-4 finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:05.90. Stella Pasalidou, who celebrated her birthday Friday, took second in 2:07.26, while Rietveld (2:08.35) and Megan Hunter (2:09.97) placed third and fourth, respectively.
On the diving board, Grant scored a 316.42 on the 3-meter and 277.05 on the 1-meter to give Oakland nine points apiece.
OAKLAND v BOWLING GREEN swim meet results
Oakland returns to OU Aquatic Center to host Wayne State Friday, Nov. 15 to host Wayne State at 5 p.m.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of Oakland University Swimming.
