AKRON, Ohio - The Wilmington College men's swimming team concluded its 2021-22 campaign with a fifth-place finish at the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Swimming & Diving Championships, a four-day event held at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium that concluded on Saturday.
The Fightin' Quakers finished the meet with 253 total points. John Carroll University claimed the championship with 1,037 points and were followed by Ohio Northern University (671.5), the University of Mount Union (664) and Baldwin Wallace University (383.5).
Wilmington began the day with four individuals - Michael Phillippe (2:04.06), Dane Klosterman (2:06.50), Logan Lippert (2:09.14) and Reed Ashcraft (2:10.19) - qualifying for the consolation final in the 200-yard backstroke. In the 100-yard freestyle, Cameron Bolen narrowly missed swimming in the championship final as he took ninth in the prelims with a time of 48.39 seconds while his teammate, Ausitn Reed, snuck into the consolation final with a preliminary time of 49.59 seconds. In the 200-yard breaststroke, a trio of WC swimmers - Luke Ruther (2:34.47), Noah Arend (2:37.40) and Levi Hartschuh (2:43.99) qualified for the consolation final. Aaron Polk rounded out individuals who would make consolation finals with his preliminary swim of 2:10.06 in the 200-yard butterfly.
The Quakers 400-yard freestyle relay team of Reed Ashcraft, Lippert, Phillippe and Reed touched the wall in 3:32.06 to qualify fifth. They also finished fifth in the evening session, swimming 16 seconds faster than the morning.
In the evening session, Klosterman and Phillippe took third and fourth respectively in the consolation final of the 200-yard backstroke while Ashcraft and Lippert took seventh and eighth respectively. In the 100-yard freestyle, Bolen and Reed finished right next to each other, placing third (48.67 seconds) and fourth (48.83) seconds respectively.
In hte 200-yard breaststroke, Ruther, Arend and Hartschuh finished sixth, seventh and eighth in the conslation final respectively while Polk closed his career with a runner-up time of 2:07.29 in the consolation final of the 200-yard butterfly.
"This team has a lot to be proud of as we finished the meet with over 100 lifetime best performances," Head Coach Trip Breen said. "We were led by an outstanding senior class, who finished their Wilmington College swimming career with enthusiasm, supporting their teammates and some great swims. Many thanks to our parent group and Wilmington College for providing us with such a memorable experience."
