(DELAWARE, Ohio) – The Wilmington College men's swimming team finished second at the Corbiere-Merion Invitational this weekend with a score of 701.5. This concludes the first portion of the Quakers season.
Day One
Session one began for Wilmington with a second place finish in the 200 Yard Medley Relay, where the team of Joakim Pedersen, Cameron Bolen, Sondre Haugen, and John Good finished with a time of 1:37.19, being bested by under a second by Davis & Elkins College (1:36.75).
Individually, Haugen got the Quakers going with a third-place finish in the 100 Yard Butterfly, where he swam a 53.17, and Evan Lucas of Ohio Wesleyan University, the winner was just ahead of him at 52.40. Pedersen produced the Quakers first second place finish in the 100 Yard Backstroke, posting a time of 53.67 seconds, just being edged by Davis & Elkins Geoff Dixon's 53.49. Good finished third behind Pedersen at 57.26.
The men got their first win in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, a 3:14.93 from Haugen, Pedersen, Good, and Bolen, over three seconds better than second place. After session one, Wilmington was in second place with 269 points.
Session two was diving where the Quakers don't compete. Bolen won the Quakers first individual event of the meet with a time of 48.02 in the 100 Yard Freestyle, edging his teammate Sondre Haugen, who finished second at 48.30. The men closed out the first day of competition with a third-place finish in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay at 7:30.53 with a team of Haugen, Austin Reed, Bolen, and Logan Lippert. They finished the day second with 467 points.
Day Two
The 400 Yard Medley Relay brought the Quakers a third-place finish as the team of John Good, Adam Moneypenny, Logan Lippert, and Dane Klosterman finished in 3:59.37. Sondre Haugen picked up a big win in the 100 Yard IM, swimming a time of 55.73, which was well over a second better than his nearest competitor.
Cameron Bolen followed this up with a win in the 50 Yard Freestyle. He swam a 21.25 to best Davis & Elkins Shizhou Li. The men won the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:28.78, just edging out Davis & Elkins. The winning team consisted of Haugen, Good, Nick Kaufman, and Bolen.
Head coach Trip Breen commented on his team, "In total, the team had 39 lifetime best performances, and a bunch of in-season bests. The team was outstanding this weekend. Both the men and women performed beyond expectation. It is up to all of us now to keep this momentum rolling as we continue to prepare for a conference championship meet."
What's Up Next
The men have a long layoff until their next event, a dual at Heidelberg University on January 13th, 2024, at 1:00 P.M.
