Day 1 of the Horizon League Championships started last night with the individual 1000 freestyle, the 200 freestyle relay, and the 200 medley relays. The Oakland Grizzlies are looking to defend their men’s and women’s team titles from last year in their second year as a member of the Horizon League. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is hosting the meet in Brown Deer, WI at the Walter Schroeder YMCA Aquatic Center.
200 Freestyle Relay
The host team, WI-Milwaukee, opened up the 2015 Horizon League Championships with the first win of the meet in the 200 freestyle relay with their time of 1:32.93. Anna Yontz led off in 23.49 and was followed by Mandie Siehs (22.95), Sierra Townsend (23.22), and Hannah Lucas (23.27). WI-Green Bay reached in for second with their time of 1:33.48 thanks to Claire Friederick‘s anchor split of 22.55, and Wright State finished third at 1:34.12. Oakland’s A relay was disqualified, but they were dead even with Milwaukee going into the final leg of the race.
The WI-Milwaukee men also won the 200 freestyle relay thanks to two sub-20 splits. The team of Casey Murphy (20.43), Ben Loeffelholz (19.86), Zach Parkin (19.68), and Willem Poelmans (20.11) combined for a final winning time of 1:20.09. Oakland was touched out at the finish to earn second place with their time of 1:20.20, followed by Wright State in third at 1:20.84.
1000 Freestyle
Milwaukee sophomore Natalie Johnson was the only swimmer to break the 10 minute barrier in the women’s 1000 freestyle to win with her time of 9:59.80. Youngstown State freshman Madison Aranda was second at 10:05.10 with a 20 second drop.
For the men, Oakland freshman Seth Timmons battled it out with Milwaukee’s Nic Halverson. Timmons won the event with his final time of 9:15.61; a 14 second improvement from his previous best. Halverson finished just behind him in second at 9:17.40, dropping nearly 25 seconds.
200 Medley Relay
After being disqualified in the first relay, Oakland came back and won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:41.32. Kyra Rietveld led off with a 25.90 backstroke, followed by a 28.06 50 breast from Takara Martin, a 24.68 fly from Holly Morren, and a 22.68 from Nikki Flynn. Wright State finished second at 1:42.48 and WI-Green Bay finished third in 1:43.18.
The Oakland men won their second relay of the morning with a new Horizon League Record time of 1:27.32. Alexsander Danielewski led off in 22.35 and was followed by a 24.40 breast split from John Schihl, a 21.23 from flyer Tuomas Kiviluoma, and a 19.34 anchor split from Jeremiah Morren. Cleveland State set the previous record in 2009 at 1:27.58.
Wright State finished second with their time 1:28.91 and WI-Green Bay was third at 1:28.94.
Women’s 1-Meter Diving
Oakland’s Tricia Grant cracked 300 to win the 1m boards with her final score of 300.95. UIC’s Whitney Johnson was second at 296.55, and Milwaukee’s Rachel Margis finished third with her score of 277.45.
Scoring Update
Women’s: Men’s
1. WI-Green Bay – 114 1. WI-Milwaukee – 124
2. WI-Milwaukee – 110 2. Oakland – 106
2. Youngstown State – 110 3. WI-Green Bay – 81
4. UIC – 101 4. UIC – 78
5. Oakland – 96 5. Cleveland State – 75
6. Wright State – 89 6. Wright State – 71
7. Cleveland State – 88 7. Valparaiso – 48
8. Valparaiso – 52
