The Ashland University men's swimming and diving team opened the 2017-18 season with a 144.5 to 117.5 win over visiting John Carroll on Saturday (Oct. 28) afternoon at Messerly Natatorium. John Carroll's women took a 158-118 victory over the Eagles at the meet.
"It was pretty much what I thought it was going to be," said second-year head coach Ron Allen of his team's first time in the pool this season. "It was a good first meet for us. In general it was a tune-up meet for us to see what we need to work on. There were some small technical mistakes that we need to address that much more. Our relay starts were somewhat slow, but we haven't done much practicing of those yet."
On the men's side, Ashland won eight individual events, including three event wins by freshman Dylan Nasser. The rookie earned wins in the 100 backstroke (53.06 seconds), 200 backstroke (1:56.45) and the 400 individual medley (4:16.66).
When asked who impressed him on the day, Allen said, "Dylan Nasser is an obvious one. He makes it look easy."
Sophomore Malcolm Doepke was the winner in a pair of distance freestyle events, taking first place in the 1,000 freestyle (10:06.29) and 500 freestyle (4:55.58).
Junior Daniel Callis took home a pair of top finishes, winning the 100 breaststroke (1:00.29) and the 200 breaststroke (2:14.89). The final AU win came from senior Christopher Georgiadis, who earned the victory in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:00.43.
The Eagles finished with three of the top four placers in the 100 breaststroke (Callis, sophomore Grant Stahl and junior Matthew Bernsdorf) and 200 butterfly (Georgiadis, junior Daniel Clifford and sophomore Aaron Bradfield.
On the women's side, the Eagles won seven individual events. Junior Erin Staley was the winner in both distance events, taking the top spot in the 1,000 freestyle (11:16.04) and 500 freestyle (5:29.22).
Senior Grace Reichard was also the top finisher in two events – the 50 freestyle (24.50 seconds) and 100 freestyle (53.50 seconds).
"Grace Reichard is expected to win her events, but the times she threw up were pretty good times early on. She'll be ranked pretty high in the conference which is what we wanted to see," Allen said.
Sophomore Madeline Cronin took all the points in the 1- and 3-meter diving events for AU. Senior Zoe Scarpone was the winner in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:00.59.
The AU women also won the 200 freestyle relay as Reichard, junior Julia Grady, Scarpone and freshman Marissa Kassinger combined for a time of 1:41.46.
The Eagles will hit the pool again Friday (Nov. 3) at 4 p.m. when they play host to Wayne State and Tiffin at Messerly Natatorium.
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