The Ohio State men opened their intercollegiate schedule, and the women swam their 2nd meet of the year, on Friday night at home against Division III powerhouse Kenyon College.
The Buckeyes were dominant in the final team scoring, but the comparison is between a team with full scholarship offerings (Ohio State) and one with no athletic scholarships (Kenyon), leaving a key perspective upon the ultimate balance.
Men’s Score:
- Ohio State 177 – Kenyon 64 (exhibition affected)
Women’s Score:
- Ohio State 171 – Kenyon 70 (exhibition affected)
The meet served as the Buckeyes’ “Go Pink meet,” where t-shirts were sold and donations were accepted for the Bauer Fund.
Men’s Meet
The Ohio State men polished off a clean sweep of the day’s events thanks in part from double wins by sophomore Brayden Seal and U.S. National Teamer DJ MacDonald.
Seal won the day’s very first individual event in his very first competitive collegiate race by winning the men’s 1000 free in 9:15.82. Among those he beat included senior Jovan Mitrovic, a senior from Switzerland (9:24.33) and top Kenyon finisher Arthur Conover (9:41.84), the defending NCAA Division III Champion in the mile.
Conover’s time was about three seconds slower than his season-opening swim from a year ago. He’d come back later in the 500 free and swim a 4:45.45 for 7th place. That’s a better year-over-year swim than was his 1000, but left him as only the second-best Kenyon finisher. His teammate David Perez was 4th overall in 4:42.53.
Both were behind another win from Seal, however. He swam 4:32.23 for victory, this time just barely beating out his veteran teammate Mitrovic (4:32.39).
DJ MacDonald also picked up a pair of individual victories for the Ohio State men. He’ll be the focal point of this team in the 2015-2016 season, even with the Olympic Trials, and a potential spot at least in the finals at that meet, looming.
He won the 100 breaststroke in 55.71 in the first half of the meet. That, his specialty event, is the second-fastest time in the Big Ten so far this season.
He later won the 200 breaststroke in 2:03.86 – about half-a-second better than teammate Dimitry Dolgov (2:04.46).
A highlight for the Kenyon men came in the men’s 50 free, where Ryan Funk was able to crack the top three finishers in 21.34. Ohio State was without its top sprinter, Josh Fleagle, at this meet, and so overall didn’t have great results in the sprint freestyles.
Women’s Meet
Among a sweep of the day’s event for the Ohio State women was a 2:00.48 winning time in the 200 fly from Amy Bopp. Bopp, who is incredibly versatile as both a very good butterflier and breaststroker, has made a habit of being very consistent in the 200 fly throughout her Ohio State career. Even this swim, though, was a second-and-a-half better than she was against Kenyon on the same weekend last season.
She also placed 2nd in the 100 fly in 56.70.
Noticeably inconspicuous at this meet for the Buckeye women were their two returning individual All-Americans from last season. Chinese-born sophomore Zhesi Li (swimming as “Liz” this season) didn’t swim either of her two best events at this meet: the 50 or 100 free.
Li won the 200 free early in 1:51.34 by three-tenths ahead of teammate Camey Rabold (1:51.69). Li only swam the 200 a handful of times last season, and this was a new lifetime best for her.
Clary, who is primarily an IM’er, was 3rd in that 200 free in 1:51.71.
Both swimmers doubled on the 200 backstroke, where they were 3rd (Clary – 2:04.71) and 4th (Li – 2:07.88), respectively, behind a win by freshman teammate Mikayla Murphy (2:04.08). Unlike the separately-coached men’s team, the Ohio State women were more focused on secondary events with their stars.
The closest the Lords and Ladies of Kenyon came to an event victory on the day was a 2nd-place finish from freshman sprinter Abby Wilson in the women’s 100 free. She and Ohio State’s Kathleen Cook turned in identical 25.07’s halfway, but Cook was able to open up the slimmest-of-margins on the third 25, and that was enough to hold on for the victory.
The Ohio State women are back in action on Saturday afternoon in a much bigger meet on the road against Purdue and Notre Dame in West Lafayette, probably explaining their secondary focus on Friday. The Buckeyes men are off until next weekend where they face another in-state Division III powerhouse from Denison.
Kenyon’s next meet will also be against Denyon on November 14th.
