The Hiram College swimming and diving teams competed at a non-conference tri-meet hosted by Urbana University in Urbana. Both teams competed against the Blue Knights as well as West Virginia Tech. The Terrier women defeated both Urbana, 71-45, and WVT, 74-21, and the men beat WVT, 78-44, but lost to Urbana, 90-32.
With the two victories, the women improve to 7-5 overall in dual meet competition. The Hiram women captured nine individual events and had several multi-event winners. Freshman Rachel Patten (Castalia/Margaretta) touched the wall first in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:40.31), the 500-yard free (5:41.18) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:31.07) events. Sophomore Carly Daniels (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson) posted the top overall mark in the 200-yard free (2:04.85) and the 100-yard free (57.98 seconds). Sophomore Rachel Buckley (Amherst/Elyria Catholic) won both the 50-yard backstroke (31.74 seconds) and the 100-yard back (1:09.07). Rounding out the individual event winners was senior Becca Wright (New Carlisle/Northwestern Local) who won the 100-yard butterfly. In addition, the women also captured one relay event. The team of Daniels, sophomore Samantha Polmanteer (Berkley, Mich./Berkley), Wright and Buckley teamed up to record a winning time of 2:03.07 in the 200-yard medley relay.
Following today’s split, the men are now 4-8 overall in dual meet competition. The top overall individual finishes included three second-place showings by junior Job Fields(Chillicothe) in the 1000-yard free (11:25.45), the 100-yard back (1:03.42) and 500-yard free (5:30.00). Senior James DeGroff (Cuyahoga Falls) placed second in the 50-yard free posting a mark of 23.08 seconds. The men also had a second-place finish in the 200-yard free relay. The team of junior Ryan Astalos (Bainbridge/Kenston), freshman Mark Stanke (Dover), freshman Danny Essel (Euclid) and DeGroff had a combined time of 1:35.44.
The Hiram swim teams will travel to University Heights for a non-conference dual meet against John Carroll University on Friday, Jan. 25. The first event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.