The Ohio State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both won their respective meets this past weekend.
The men opened the season against Miami University in the first meet at the new Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion and won 137-97. The team won 12 of 13 events in the meet.
“I’m very pleased by the way the guys performed. It was a great team effort but it was really fun and a historical moment,” men’s swimming coach Bill Wadley said. “It is was what I call a M and M moment – a memorial moment. We had the opportunity to be the first team to compete in a outside competition against another school in this new great aquatic center, so we got to do something special. I told them in 30 years from now when they come back in alumni meets, they can tell the story that they were the first team to compete in a meet there.”
There were some outstanding performances this weekend with the men’s team. Junior Joe Doyle, a native of Centerburg, Ohio, won the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. In the butterfly event, Doyle swam for a personal best time of 49.63.
Doyle was not the only Buckeye to grab two events at the meet – sophomore Matt Voelker and freshman diver Wes Wieser also won two individual events. Voelker, an Upper Arlington native, won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle, while Wieser won in his first meet as a Buckeye, claiming the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
Wadley said the win got the team off to a great start.
“I think there were a few outstanding performances,” Wadley said. “I think (Doyle’s) 100 fly and 200 freestyle were outstanding and Matt Voelker’s 50 free was outstanding. Overall we were really pleased with what they did and certainly have great hopes and aspirations for better things to come.”
The women’s team also got off to a great start, defeating Bowling Green in their own pool. The team won 15 of 16 events at the meet, with senior Nicole Maglich and junior Gulsah Gunenc winning three individual races in the meet.
“Our top team swimmers swam really well, but our middle team needs to step it up a little bit,” coach Jeanne Fleck said. “We won a lot of events and those girls swam really, really fast and now we need our second-level kids to step it some.”
Maglich won the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle events and also won the 100-yard backstroke. Her time in the 1,000-yard freestyle was 28 seconds faster than any other competitor. Gunenc, a junior from Edirne, Turkey, took home the win in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly and also the 200-yard individual medley.
There were also some other multiple event winners in the competition. Sophomore Griet Buelens won the 100- and 200-yard freestyle races and junior Rebekah Rychvalsky won the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races. Junior diver Anesa Beard also won two events, claiming both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events.
Fleck said it was a good way to get the season underway.
“It was an away meet and we have had a tendency not to swim well at away meets, so I’m pretty happy with where we were because we swam better than what we usually do at away meets,” Fleck said.
The men’s swimming and diving team returns to action at 5 p.m. Friday against Cincinnati at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion. The women’s team will not return to the pool for competition until Nov. 11 when the team competes in its first dual meet at the new aquatic center against Michigan and Purdue.
