ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Oakland men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams head to East Lansing for a dual meet against in-state foe Michigan State at McCaffree Pool Saturday, Jan. 23 at 1:00 p.m. Last year, The Golden Grizzlies split with Michigan State, with the men’s team winning by three points and the women’s team falling 186-108.
HOME SWEET HOME: In the last 10 meetings with the Spartans, the Oakland men’s team has split the series, going 5-5. The home team has won every meet during that span with the last road victory coming in 2002 when Michigan State defeated Oakland in Rochester.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY: Oakland’s Alysse Fischer is familiar with both teams competing Saturday as she swam her freshman season with the Spartans before transferring to Oakland this year. The Beverly Hills, Mich. native has been a part of the 800-yard freestyle relay at the Zippy Invitational that went a season-best time, and has a top five time on the team in five different events this season.
MORREN MAKES HISTORY: Holly Morren had a historic swim in the 100-yard freestyle on Dec. 6 at the Zippy Invitational when she swam a Horizon League record time of 49.82, becoming the first woman in conference history to swim under 50 seconds in a 100 free. The time was also a school record and NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time.
ZIPPING INTO THE RECORD BOOKS: The Golden Grizzlies combined to break 14 records last month at the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio as the men’s team took first place and the women finished runner-up. Freshman Devon Nowicki broke a record in every swim he competed in, totaling 10 records in three days including a school record in the 100 breaststroke (53.15).
LIVING LIKE ISLANDERS: The Oakland men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams took a break from competition for over a month. During that time, the team traveled down to Puerto Rico for 10 days for their annual training trip. Outside of training, the teams stayed at a beachside hotel and took a day off to cliff dive.
TAKE A BOW: Five Golden Grizzlies have earned weekly honors this season as Stirling Fordham earned Horizon League Male Diver of the Week twice on Oct. 20 and Dec. 8, while teammate Joe Smith won diver of the week on Nov. 17. Patricia Aschan earned Horizon League Female Swimmer of the Week twice on Nov. 17 and Jan. 12 while also being named CollegeSwimming.com’s Conference Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 12. Devon Nowicki was named the league’s male swimmer of the week on Dec. 8, and Nikki Flynn was twice named CollegeSwimming.com’s Conference Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 10 and Dec 8.
FALL SUCCESS: The fall semester was successful for Oakland as the men’s team started out 3-1 in dual meets while placing second at the Dennis Stark Relays and winning the Zippy Invitational. The women’s team finished the first semester with a 4-1 dual meet record while placing second at the Zippy Invite. Both teams currently are 3-0 in league competition.
NEW ADDITIONS: Oakland announced on Nov. 30 the addition of nine student-athletes during the fall signing period. The men’s squad will add distance freestyler Micah DeJonge to the 2016-17 class, and the women’s team will have eight newcomers for next season, those being swimmers Kirstyn Abbasse, Katherine Colwell, Rileigh Eding, Sara Heines, Amanda Hudson, Grace Shinske, and divers Angelique Wise and Sarah Stine.
DEFENDING THEIR TITLE: The Golden Grizzlies begin their title defense returning a number of key contributors including Horizon League Female Swimmer of the Year Patricia Aschan, last year’s conference champion in the 200 and 400-yard IM and 200 butterfly. The women also return reigning conference champions Nikki Flynn(100 and 200 freestyle) and Takara Martin (100 and 200 breaststroke).
The men return Horizon League champions John Schihl (100 and 200 breast), Mitch Alters (200 fly), Tuomas Kiviluoma (100 free) and Jeremiah Morren (50 free). Stirling Fordham returns for his sophomore season after placing third on the 1-meter board and sixth on the 3-meter board last year at the Horizon League Championships.
HOVALND’S RESUME: Pete Hovland returns for his 37th year as Oakland’s head coach accumulating 37 consecutive conference championships, four NCAA Division II National Championships and 54 individual national champions on the men’s team and 21 straight conference titles for the women. Hovland has been named a conference coach of the year 23 times, including the Horizon League Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year in 2015.
Swimming news courtesy of Oakland Swimming & Diving.
