Wednesday Results (PDF)
CANTON, Ohio – Swimmers were just getting warmed up on the first day of the Great Midwest/Mountain East Swimming & Diving Championships during Wednesday’s action inside the C.T. Branin Natatorium.
A total of nine events were completed as the first winners took their place on the podium for respective all-conference recognition in front of their peers.
All-conference honors for the Great Midwest includes first-team honorees as the highest finisher from the league with placement of second and third resulting in honorable mention status.
Four different conference championship meet records were shattered on Wednesday as the Mountain East Conference won the 1,000 yard freestyle (women’s) and 50 freestyle (men).
Findlay leads the team scoring on day one in both the men’s and women’s standings. The Oilers women accumulated 447 points while the men totaled 346. Hillsdale is second in the women’s scoring with 333 points while Tiffin is second in the men’s race with 242 points.
Findlay’s women won the 50 freestyle, 200 IM and the 200-yard medley relay. Junior Hanna Cederholm edged out Malone’s Denise Quentin following a close preliminary heat that separated the pair by just 0.27 of a second.
Speaking of razor-thin margins, the Oilers’ Amanda Stiegal recorded a NCAA “B” cut time in the 50 freestyle, breaking her own meet record by just 0.04 of a second.
The first UF relay grouping didn’t hold anything back as Christina McFarland, Cederholm, Katy Kouvaris and Stiegal, sped their way to another meet record in the 200 medley. The Oilers’ men also won with Trae Gulgin, Issac Stretch, Conner Whitaker and Trent Williams, less than one second from the program’s own conference championship record.
Tiffin crowned three men’s champions on day one, including freshman Miguel Arroyo Garcia winning the 200 IM and Nickolas Jefferson stealing the show in the 3-meter dive with a new conference overall and meet record.
Arroyo Garcia, a two-time conference athlete of the week, also hit the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.73.
TU’s Nick De Robles scored the Dragons third victory with a strong time in the 1,000 yard freestyle, a 40-lap event. He was less than three seconds off the meet record held by last year’s Great Midwest Men’s Swimmer of the Meet Ben Rath (Findlay).
Conference Championship Meet Records Broken:
Nickolas Jefferson (Tiffin – 3-Meter Diving)
Miguel Arroyo Garcia (Tiffin – 200 IM)
McFarland, Cederholm, Kouvaris, Stiegal (Findlay – 200-yard medley relay)
Amanda Stiegal (Findlay - 50-yard freestyle)