Men and Women's swimming and diving hosted Xavier and Oakland Saturday (Jan. 31) afternoon for their final home meet of the season. Before the events began, the Viking seniors Nathan Grant, Erin Bender, Elizabeth Tamas, Hayley Smith, and Rachel Grove were recognized with their parents. Senior and Student-Assistant Coach Tom Blankenship was also recognized. Blankenship has been out due to injury.
The men swam great as they beat Xavier 174-114 but lost to Oakland 159-135. The women swam well, but fell to Xavier 163-117 and Oakland 203-77.
For the women, Samantha Sposet started the day off in the 3-meter diving with a final score of 279.45. Sposet went on to compete in the 1-meter diving with a final score of 265.50. Anna Evans had a second place time in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.82.
Danny Roberts and Rhys Robbins dove well as they both put up solid scores. Roberts finished the 3-meter with a final score of 324.53, while Robbins finished with 185.25. They both went on to compete in the 1-meter diving with Roberts finishing at 338.85 and Robbins at 190.73. The men swimmers started off the day with a second place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:32.63. Robert Tolson swam a great 200-yard freestyle with a second place finishing time of 1:44.65, just less than a second away from first. Patrick Tippen (58.26) and senior Nathan Grant (58.30) had a 1-2 finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Gage Alleman finished in second with a time of 4:07.15 in the 400 IM. The men finished the day with a second place finish in the 200-free relay with a time of 1:23.93.
Philipp Sikatzki had an outsanding day as he placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 48.74 and had another first place time of 47.97 in the 100-yard butterfly.
"We were looking forward to competing against Oakland University and Xavier. The team came out at the beginning and set a very positive tone. We were able to continue and swim well for the remainder of the meet. They did a nice job honoring their seniors with their performance. We are looking forward to one more weekend of competition and then 100% focus on the Horizon League Championships," Head Coach Graham explained following the meet.
The Vikings will be back in the pool February 6 as they travel to UIC. Events will begin at 5 p.m.
