Story by Samantha Williams
WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College (WC) men's swimming team opened competition in the 2018 calendar year with a dual meet against Manchester University. The Fightin' Quakers came out ahead, 115-53.
WC won seven of the nine individual events of the afternoon and also secured first-place finishes in one of the relay events.
David Bellus and Frederick Rankin tallied two, first-place individual finishes for the Quakers, leading them to victory. Bellus claimed the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:14.74 and the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:06.34. Rankin earned first in the 200-meter individual medley, touching the wall in 2:29.60, and the 100-meter breaststroke, clocking in at 1:10.89.
The pair teamed up with Lawrence Daya and Brody Morris to form the winning 200-meter medley relay, posting a 1:58.63.
Other first-place finishes throughout the afternoon included: Cody Nash in the 800-meter freestyle (9:35.09), Daya in the 100-meter backstroke (1:06.16), and Ben Ball in the 400-meter freestyle (5:07.90).
"I think the first meet coming off of a break can be challenging sometimes, it almost feels like we're starting over," Head Women's Swimming Coach Trip Breen said. "We had some great training over break, so I was excited to see the team race today. We had 24 in-season bests and are swimming with more confidence."
Wilmington heads to the University of Mount Union for an Ohio Athletic Conference dual meet 1 p.m. Saturday.
