WHEATON, Ill. – The No. 2 Olivet Nazarene University men's swim and dive team competed in the Wheaton College Invite hosted by the NCAA Division III Wheaton College Thunder on Friday, Dec. 3 through Saturday, Dec. 4. The Tigers finished in second out of six teams in this competitive field which included NCAA DIII opponents Wisconsin-Steven, Wheaton College, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Augustana College, North Central College, and Aquinas College.
Head-lining the weekend for the women was Allison Pearson. She tallied two individual first-place finishes in the 400-yard IM and the 50-yard freestyle events. Pearson clocked in with times of 4:35.32 and 24.20 respectively. She also finished first in three separate team relays swimming the third leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay, the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay, and the anchor of the 400-yard medley relay.
Paige Howell won four first-place finishes on the weekend. She took two in the 200 and 100-yard backstroke events with times of 2:04.18 and 58.94 respectively. Howell contributed to first-place finishes as the first legs of the 400 and 200 medley relays.
The ONU Tigers swept first, second, and third positions in three separate events in the meet. Megan Schroeder (1:04.59), Pearson (1:04.96), and Julieta Vega (1:07.13) took all three top spots in the 100-yard breaststroke. In the 100-yard butterfly, Addison Daily (58.35), Ashley Parry (58.66), and Vega (58.82) swept one, two, and three. Then in the 50-yard freestyle, Pearson (24.20), Daily (24.43), and Helina Reyes (24.80) garnered top positions as well.
Other great individual performances included Camila Mass who won the 100-yard IM with a time of 1:06.19. Payton DeZure took second in the same event. Ashley Parry won the 200-yard butterfly clocking in at 2:07.03. Halle Briner finished second in the 200-yard IM touching the wall at 2:10.62 and then went on to finish third in the 200-yard freestyle event with a finish of 1:55.43.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Tigers will host Davenport and Lewis on Saturday, Jan. 15 in the Perry SLRC. The action is set to start at 11 a.m.
--ONU—
*Contact: Patrick Kaindl, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, pkaindl@olivet.edu