Eastern Michigan, Michigan v. Ohio State

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, January 19. THE 13th-ranked Ohio State men’s swimming and diving team defeated both Michigan State and Eastern Michigan in a double dual meet at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The wins â€" by 177-116 over MSU and 199-94 over EMU â€" improved Ohio State’s record to 8-0 this season. The meet was the Buckeyes’ last dual meet of the season at home.

The Buckeye quartet of Dan Novak, Felipe Travesso, Andrew Bretscher and Matt Voelker gave Ohio State a win in the opening event of the evening: the 200-yard medley relay (1:30.04). Novak, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Voelker, from Upper Arlington, are the only two seniors on the team and they were competing in a home dual meet for the last time in their collegiate careers.

“We are continuing to build confidence and to make progress toward the Big Ten championships,” Bill Wadley, Ohio State swimming coach, said. “We swam some people in different races and we had a lot of good races by some of our younger guys. Last week we had some freshmen win their first races and we had two more do it today.”

Sophomore Mark Nieman captured his third win of the season in the 1000 freestyle in a time of 9:17.31 with freshman Tom O’Neil second in 9:18.50.

After Michigan State took first in the 200 freestyle, Novak came back to lead a one-two-three-four Buckeye sweep in the 100 backstroke, winning in 50.49. Freshmen Itai Chammah, Andrew Misich and Philip Seleskie followed Novak’s winning time.

The Spartans came right back, though, securing a win in the 100 breaststroke. But the Buckeyes came right back: sophomore Andrew Zaydak, junior Matthias Sigrist and freshman Bobby Jenrow took the top three places in the 200 butterfly. Zaydak’s winning time was 1:50.23.

Eastern Michigan sneaked in for a win in the 50 freestyle, denying Voelker with a fifth dual meet win in his specialty in his last home meet.

Ohio State consistently extended its lead in the meet throughout the evening. Chammah, Seleskie and Novak went one-two-three in the 200 backstroke â€" the first event after the break â€" with Chammah winning in 1:49.24.

Freshmen Jayson King and Chuck Allison each won his first collegiate event. King powered to a win in the 500 freestyle in 4:30.56 and Allison won the 100 butterfly in 50.00.

And when the diving points were added in, Ohio State held a considerable lead over both the Spartans and the Eagles. Buckeye divers swept the top three places on the three-meter board with Ryan Jefferson winning with 367.15 points. Sean Moore and Wes Wieser took second and third, respectively. On the one-meter, Wieser topped Jefferson and Moore, to lead another Buckeye sweep. Wieser’s winning score was 248.05.

The Ohio State women’s swimming and diving team defeated Michigan State and Eastern Michigan to extend its winning streak to five consecutive meets. The wins â€" 210.5-89.5 over MSU and 195-105 over EMU â€" improved Ohio State’s record to 6-3 this season. The meet was the first dual meet of the season against another Big Ten team.

“We weren’t as sharp as we were last week but we did all right,” Jeanne Fleck, Ohio State swimming coach, said. “We’re 5-0 in 2008 so overall I am pleased with the effort. We had an opportunity to swim a number of people in different events and although they weren’t used to the events, they did very well.”

Ohio State freshman Anita Beck led the way for the Buckeyes by winning three individual events. Two other freshmen â€" Samantha Cheverton and diver Bianca Alvarez â€" and sophomore Megan Alexander secured two wins apiece. Ohio State won 11 of the 16 events.

Beck cruised to a victory in the 1000-yard freestyle in the first individual event of the evening. It was her first collegiate win in the event.

Michigan State swimmers came back to take wins in the next two events, the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, sending the message that the Buckeyes, who had won three consecutive meets coming into this event, would be in for a tussle on this night.

Ohio State Sophomore Megan Alexander stopped the Michigan State win streak at two events as she was victorious in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:04.34. It was her second dual meet win in a row in the event as she also won against Kentucky last Saturday.

Beck then came through with her second win of the evening (and her ninth individual victory of the season) by winning the 200 butterfly in 2:03.80.

After the break, senior co-captain Linda Lund-Kristiansen won the 100 freestyle in a time of 52:03 which was just one one-hundredth of a second off the team’s top time in the event this season. Freshman Samantha Cheverton, who has qualified for the NCAA championships in the 200 backstroke, took first in her specialty in a time of 2:02. 06. Alexander followed with a win in the 200 breaststroke (2:19.47), giving her a sweep of the breaststroke events.

Beck secured her three-win “hat trick” by winning the 500 freestyle in 4:55.02.

Other swimming winners for the Buckeyes: the 200 medley relay team of Jill Lockhart, Alexander, Lund-Kristiansen and Annie Rennebohm in 1:46.68; Cheverton in the 100 butterfly (56.71); and the 400 freestyle relay team of Rennebohm, Beck, Lund-Kristiansen and Cheverton (3:28.90).

Buckeyes swept the top three places on both boards with Alvarez winning both events. She took first on the three-meter with 343.40 points and followed that with a first-place effort on the one-meter springboard (293.80). Chelsea Davis and Kristen Asman were second and third on both boards, respectively.

Special thanks to Ohio State for contributing this report.

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