Senior Mason Harris and junior David Hawk each won three events as the Wilmington College men's swimming team kicked off the 2014-15 season with a 130-57 victory over Baldwin Wallace Saturday in Ohio Athletic Conference action at the Wilmington Natatorium.
"The men really had some good swims today," said Wilmington head coach Trip Breen. "It's fun to start the first meet of the year with in-season-bests. We had some guys swim faster than they ever been before, and to do it in the opening meet – it's really exciting."
Harris (Westerville, OH/Central) won the 800 freestyle, 400 freestyle and was a member of the 200 freestyle relay team. He defeated the reigning OAC champion in the 800 with a time of 9:12.51, and won the 400 in the time of 4:31.20.
Hawk (Edison, OH/Mount Gilead) swam the opening leg of the 200 relay, followed by Harris, sophomore Erik Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) and freshman Anton Blomquist (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna). The quartet won the race with the time of 1:39.94. The junior added victories in the 200 freestyle (2:03.64) and the 100 freestyle (54.69).
"David started out as a true sprinter, who has struggled in the 200, and has really developed a 200 freestyle," said Breen. "Mason has two great distance swims today.
I'm pleased with how both the men's and women's team started. It was fun to see some people swim really fast this early in the season."
Sophomore David Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) was victorious in the 100 back (1:01.64), and then teamed with freshmen Cody Nash (Fresno, CA/Kingsbury), Wyatt Henderson (Baltimore, OH/Liberty Union) and Carter Semenchuk (Rockford, IL/Hononegah) to win the 200 medley relay.
Erik Spraul added a win in the 200 individual medley (2:22.33), Henderson recorded a victory in the 100 butterfly (1:00.99) and Blomquist won the 50 freestyle (25.10).
"I made a comment to the parents, and to (assistant coaches) Paula (Stewart) and Kenny (Holter), that the first meet is a little tricky," said Breen. "We had a lot of anxiety. This team really swam well across the board. It's great anxiety didn't dictate how we did. It's fun to have great swims."
Wilmington returns to the pool 6 p.m. Friday to compete against Ohio Northern.