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Nash dominates dual meet

Posted: Nov 10, 2017

WILMINGTON, Ohio- The Wilmington College men's swimming team dove into Ohio Athletic Conference action, Friday evening, in a dual meet against Ohio Northern University. Despite large improvements in racing technique and several in-season bests, the Fightin' Quakers fell to the Polar Bears, 172-89.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Senior Cody Nash (Kingsburg, CA/Kingsburg) earned the Fightin' Quakers' first individual win of the evening, in the 800-meter freestyle. He completed the 32-laps in 9:23.77, blowing past the rest of the field by over four seconds. He then hopped up on the blocks for the 100-meter breaststroke, surpassing the field yet again--this time only by a margin of 0.5-seconds--with a time of 1:11.95. The 100-meter individual medley followed, an unusual event for Nash. Still, he was the Fightin' Quakers' top finisher, earning third-place with a time of 1:07.03.
Nash then joined forces with junior Andrew Stewart (Wilmington, OH/Clinton-Massie) and seniors Alex Tillapaugh (Wilmington, OH/Wickenburg) and David Bellus (Upper Marlboro, MD/Northmont) for a 200-meter freestyle relay. The quartet touched the wall second, with a time of 1:42.09.
Stewart had two individual event wins this evening, as well. He flew through the water and right past the competition to get his hand on the wall first in the 50-meter freestyle. His time of 23.82 was nearly two seconds faster than anyone else in the pool. Stewart then went on to compete in the 100-meter freestyle, a much closer race. Again, he earned first--this time only by a margin of sixteen one-hundredths of a second--with a time of 56.00.
Stewart, Tillapaugh, senior Lawrence Daya (North Canton, OH/Glen Oak) and sophomore Frederick Rankin (Frisco, TX/Lone Star) came together for a 200-meter medley relay. The group earned second place with a time of 1:53.21.
In addition to his relay performance, Rankin finished first in the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 32.06.

HEAD COACH TRIP BREEN QUOTES

"Cody Nash raced really well, tonight. He had great wins in both of his events. Andrew Stewart also had an impressive night. A 23.8 this early in the season is phenomenal. I'm excited to see where the rest of the season takes both of these swimmers."
"I thought we demonstrated some general progress today. We're starting to see the confidence we need to see to move forward with the season. Today's racing, and this new found confidence, gives us a lot to look forward to as we go into our end of the semester invitational at Ohio Wesleyan."

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