Oakland Sweeps Relays, Eastern Illinois Breaks School Records on Day 1 of Summit League Champs

The home team, Oakland University, got off to a hot start at the 2013 Summit League Championships by sweeping all four relays, including scaring multiple league records. Records of all shapes-and-sizes were the story of the day, as behind Oakland, Elliott McGill’s Eastern Illinois team set three school records in these first four relays.

200 Medley Relay

 First event of the night was the Women’s 200 Medley Relay.  The OU women were seeded first with a time of 1:44.16 followed by IUPUI and Omaha.  With a slight change in their butterfly leg, Karin Tomeckova, Alyssa Busch, Christine Seiple, and Allison Bellford of Oakland finished at 1:41.46, which is a new Pool and Summit League Record for the University.  This relay time will now rank third in the league all-time top-10 (behind two Western Illinois relay teams).  IUPUI touched second, nearly two seconds later, at 1:43.20 followed by Omaha at 1:44.23.

On the Men’s side, Oakland University was also seeded first in this event.  There was definitely a palpable energy surrounding this event as the men battled it out chasing the 1:27.44 Pool and League record.  Oakland fell short touching 5-tenths behind the record at 1:27.94.   Battling for second just over four seconds later, Eastern Illinois University touched at 1:32.23, followed by South Dakota for third at 1:32.93.

The Oakland Men’s relay, made up of Anders Jensen, Tobias Hansen, Alex Aceino, and Grant Harding, held a time trial after the night’s events for one more shot.  Unfortunately, they were only able to shave five one-hundredths of a second off their earlier time. Their swim tonight will also now rank third in the league all-time top-10.

800 Free Relay 

After a brief break it was back in the pool for the second relay events, and last events of the night.

Top three teams going in to this, in order, were Oakland, South Dakota State University, and Omaha.  Oakland’s relay, which is comprised of three-quarters Seniors Venessza Balogh, Sandra Czerska, Julieanne Stears, and freshman Nikki Flynn, touched first at 7:24.35, just .33 shy of the Pool and League record.  IUPUI touched second at 7:32.98, followed by Omaha at 7:37.06.  Oakland women have a history of holding top times in this event, and tonight’s swim is one more to add to the list.  Second best of all-time, actually.

Last event of the night was the Men’s 800 Free Relay.  There definitely seemed to be an undercurrent of the OU teams attempting to break the standing Pool and League records; this specific record is held at 6:30.71.  Definitely a valiant effort on their part as the OU men touched at 6:31.00 followed by SDSU at 6:47.01 and IUPUI at 6:50.96.

Full results including splits can be found here: http://www.ougrizzlies.com/livestats/c-swim/index.htm

Women – Team Rankings – After day 1

1. Oakland University 80
2. Iupui Jaguars 68
3. University of Nebraska Omaha 64
4. Eastern Illinois University 58
5. South Dakota State University 56
6. The University of South Dakota 54
7. Western Illinois University 48

Men – Team Rankings – After day 1

1. Oakland University 80
2. Eastern Illinois University 64
2. South Dakota State University 64
4. The University of South Dakota 58
4. Iupui Jaguars 58
6. Western Illinois University 56