BEREA, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's swimming team opened its 2021-22 season with an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) dual meet at Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Fightin' Quakers 160-44.
Individually, Wilmington had eight top-three finishes with a trio of Quakers – Austin Reed, Cameron Bolen and Michael Phillippe – tallying two each. Reed took second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:29.05) and third in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.88) while Phillippe finished just behind his teammate in the 500-yard freestyle (5:31.27) and also took third in the 200-yard IM (2:13.43). Cameron Bolen turned in runner-up swims in both the 100-yard freestyle (50.98 seconds) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.89).
Other individuals to place in the top three in events included: Jacob Worley's swim of 24.02 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and Dane Klosterman's time of 1:01.74 in the 100-yard backstroke.
In relays, Worley, Bolen , Phillippe and Reed placed third in the 200-yard medley relay (1:44.50) while Aaron Polk, Samuel Wallace and Reed Ashcraft teamed up with Klosterman to turn in a time of 1:39.55 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
"We have a young team, so confidence was a bit of an issue at the beginning of the meet as we made some early mistakes," Head Coach Trip Breen said. "As the swimmers started to race, you could see the confidence start to grow and we had a much better second half of the meet. Being very early in the season, we have a lot of things that we can improve upon, and I am looking forward to having a great week of practice this week."
Wilmington returns to the pool on Friday evening for an OAC meet at home with Ohio Northern University.
