The 2015 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships began Wednesday with seven event finals at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis.
The opening day ended with Green Bay on top of the women’s leaderboard with Milwaukee and Youngstown State tied for second, four points back, while Milwaukee leads the men’s pack with Oakland in second place.
The evening began with Oakland’s Tricia Grant repeating in the women’s 1-meter diving final. The senior battled with UIC’s Whitney Johnson throughout the event and had just a two-point lead over the Flames diver heading into the final round of diving, but a fantastic final dive gave Grant the win with a total score of 300.95, while Johnson finished with a finals score of 296.55.
The swimming portion of the evening opened with the men’s and women’s 200-yard freestyle relays. Top-seed Oakland had the lead through two swimmers in the women’s relay, but was disqualified on an early take-off penalty. Milwaukee claimed the event with a winning of time of 1:32.93. On the men’s side, Green Bay won the event, staving off a late charge from Oakland as the Phoenix out-touched Oakland by .11 second to win with a time of 1:20.09.
The first long distance race of the meet was won by Milwaukee’s Natalie Johnson as she repeated as the winner of the women’s 1,000 yard freestyle with a time of 9:59.80 The UWM sophomore bested YSU freshman Madison Aranda and UIC freshman Brie Hines, who came in second and third, respectively.
Oakland freshman Seth Timmons got off to a good start in his first conference championship as he won the men’s 1,000-yard race with a winning of time of 9:15.61. Four Milwaukee swimmers finished next led by junior Nic Halverson, who came in second with a time of 9:17.40.
The evening closed with the 200-yard medley relays. Oakland bounced back from a disappointing 200-yard freestyle to win the women’s medley with a time of 1:41.32.
The Golden Grizzlies also captured the men’s race as the only League-mark that fell on Wednesday occurred in the men’s event. Oakland’s winning time of 1:27.32, bested the Horizon League Championship and League mark of 1:27.58 set by Cleveland State at the 2009 championship.
Day two begins at 10:30 a.m. CT with preliminary action. The men’s three-meter preliminaries and consolation finals begin at 1:30 p.m., with the evening session beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Live video of all four days of the Horizon League Championships can be found here: http://www.horizonleague.org/live/12353
Wednesday, February 25 Results
Women’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Milwaukee (Yontz, Siehs, Townsend, Lucas) – 1:32.93
Men’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Green Bay (Murphy, Loeffelholz, Parkin, Poelmans) – 1:20.09
Women’s 1000-Yard Freestyle: Natalie Johnson, Milwaukee – 9:59.80
Men’s 1000-Yard Freestyle: Seth Timmons, Oakland – 9:15.61
Women’s 200-Yard Medley Relay: Oakland (Rietveld, Martin, Morren, Flynn) – 1:41.32
Men’s 200-Yard Medley Relay: Oakland (Danielewski, Schihl, Kiviluoma, Morren) – 1:27.32**
Women’s 1-meter Diving: Tricia Grant, Oakland – 300.95
**-HL Championship & League Record
Women’s Team Scores – Through Wednesday
1. Green Bay – 114
2. Milwaukee – 110
2. Youngstown State – 110
4. UIC – 101
5. Oakland – 96
6. Wright State – 89
7. Cleveland State – 88
8. Valparaiso – 52
Men’s Team Scores – Through Wednesday
1. Milwaukee – 124
2. Oakland – 106
3. Green Bay – 81
4. UIC – 78
5. Cleveland State – 75
6. Wright State – 71
7. Valparaiso – 48
