BEREA- The Wilmington College men's swimming team opened the 2017-18 season Saturday afternoon with an OAC dual meet against Baldwin Wallace University. The Fightin' Quakers swam hard, winning the majority of the day's events- even those that are not their individual specialty. In a close meet, Baldwin Wallace came out on top, five points ahead of WC, 102-97.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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Junior Andrew Stewart (Wilmington, OH/Clinton-Massie) earned two individual event titles this afternoon. A sprint freestyler at heart, Stewart stepped up to claim first, by three-seconds, in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.33. He then dove in for the 100-yard freestyle, again winning the event by a margin of three-seconds, with a time of 48.86. Stewart joined with sophomore teammate Lawrence Daya (North Canton, OH/Glen Oak) and senior teammates David Bellus (North Marlboro, MD/Northmont) and Alex Tillapaugh (Wilmington, OH/Wickenburg) for a first-place 200-yard freestyle relay (1:32.60).
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Bellus also claimed an individual first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:20.27. Freshman teammate Samuel Shanes finished just behind, for second-place with a time of 5:29.49.
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Tillapaugh was the individual champion in the 50-yard freestyle event with a time of 23.06.
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Senior Cody Nash (Kingsburg, CA/Kingsburg) also earned a first-place finish this afternoon, his in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:02.07. Again, Shanes finished just behind with a time of 11:18.08.
HEAD COACH TRIP BREEN QUOTES
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"For our first meet of the season I thought this was a good starting point. Unfortunately nerves always get the best of us at the beginning of the season, so it doesn't really give us true judgement on how ready we are to race. As the season continues we'll settle down and won't make as many little mistakes. In our training we'll continue to work to find a balance, as fitness continues to come along, between work that needs to be done and fine tuning the little things."
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"Several freshmen on both sides had great meets today! Especially for their first college meet, for them to be able to step up, it says a lot about how things are going to go for them throughout the rest of the season. I'm excited to see how they progress."
WHAT'S NEXT
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The Fightin' Quakers head to a double dual meet with Wittenberg University and Transylvania University hosted by Transylvania on Saturday, November 4.
