The Ashland University swimming and diving teams won 20 of 26 events in their home finale on Friday (Jan. 18) afternoon at Messerly Natatorium as the Eagles swept Malone and Urbana.
The AU men beat Urbana, 125-40, and defeated Malone by a 105-91 score. On the women's side, Ashland claimed a 152-26 win over Urbana and a 136-82 victory over Malone.
On top of their first place results, the Eagles also swept the top three places in three events – the men's 50 freestyle, women's 100 butterfly and men's 500 freestyle.
For the men, Franci Aleksi came away with two victories – the first in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:10.02 and the second in the 500 free with a time of 4:46.33. Ben Keilholz also won twice in the 50 freestyle (22.09 seconds) and the 100 backstroke (56.23 seconds).
The other wins for the men came from Grant Stahl in the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.97 seconds, Daniel Callis in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.07 and Keegan Goeke in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.39 seconds.
Four AU women won two events each. Tara Stevens won the 1,650 freestyle (18:16.26) and the 500 freestyle (5:18.87). Julia Grady placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.39 seconds and in the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 1:02.55.
Abbie Ellsworth was the top finisher in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:14.68, and also won the 100 backstroke in 1:00.99. Maddy Cronin won both the 1-meter diving (199.45 points) and 3-meter diving (175.25 points) events.
In the 200 freestyle, Morgan Gardner was the fastest to touch with a time of 2:03.32.
The Eagles also swept the four relay races in the meet. The combination of Michaela Godfrey, Sophie Brightman, Ellsworth and Grady won the women's 200 medley relay with a time of 1:54.72. Goeke, Callis, Stahl and Keilholz won the men's 200 medley relay, clocking in at 1:39.51.
In the women's 800 freestyle relay, Gardner, Erin Staley, Anne Evans and Maddy Moates finished in 8:25.65 to win the race. Matt Filsinger, Franci, Aaron Bradfield and Goeke won the men's 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:26.98.
The Eagles have two final meet tune-ups before the GLIAC Championships. The first comes up on Sunday (Jan. 20) at 2 p.m. at Hillsdale in a tri-meet that also includes Saginaw Valley. The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was moved due to the weather forecast.
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