No. 15 Indiana Squashes No. 14 Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio, January 6. THE No. 14 Ohio State men's swimming and diving team fell to the No. 15 Indiana, 154-146, in the Buckeyes' first dual meet of the 2007 season, Saturday at the Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. OSU's George Markovic and Burkley Showe were each double-event winners during the meet.

"I am disappointed in the loss," Bill Wadley, head swimming coach, said. "However, we had many good swims. We had several lifetime best times. We lost close races, which determined the final outcome of the meet, but we have plenty to look forward to. I want to congratulate George Markovic on his wins in the 1,000 and 500, as well as the divers who had an excellent meet."

Coming from behind in the second half of the 1,000-yard freestyle, Markovic (Fr., Sydney, Australia/St. Ives) secured the Buckeye's first win of the meet in a season-best time of 9:15.16. The time ranks as the fifth-fastest time swum this year in college swimming. Markovic recorded his second win of the day in the 500-yard freestyle, stopping the clock first at 4:29.27.

The Ohio State divers proved successful, sweeping the Top 5 places on the 1-meter and the Top 3 spots on the 3-meter springboard event. Columbus native Showe (So., Thomas Worthington) won both the 1- and 3-meter spring board titles. He won the 1-meter with a score of 361.12 and the 3-meter in a pool-record score of 397.87. Weston Weiser (So., Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central) (341.55) and Kellen Harkness (Sr., Puyallup, Wash/Cascade Christian) (324.90) finished behind him in second and third place, respectively, on the 1-meter. Harkness won the silver on the 3-meter with a score of 347.77 and Ryan Jefferson (Fr., Madison, Wis./Madison Edgewood) took third with a score of 326.02.

Ohio State started out the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of RJ Lemyre (Sr., Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Felipe Travesso (So., Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Lawrences North), Matt Voelker (Jr., Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Dan Novak (Jr., Sao Paulo, Brazil/Foothill) stopped the clock at 1:30.38.

Indiana swimmer Todd Patrick picked up the win in the 200-yard freestyle when he touched the wall in 1:38.43. The Buckeyes were responsible for the next four places, with Joe Doyle (Sr., Centerburg, Ohio/Centerburg) taking second in a season-best time of 1:39.43. Andrew Olson (Fr., Allison Park, Penn/Hampton) followed him in third with 1:41.96. Jake Busch (So., Toledo, Ohio/Toledo Christiansen) (1:42.24) and Yannick van Heers (So., Tienen, Belgium/Koninklijk Atheneum Tienen) (1:42.65) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Lemyre and Nate King (Sr., Youngstown, Ohio/Warren Harding) went 2-3 in the 100-yard backstroke. Lemyre recorded the team's fastest time of 49.70 in the event this year. King swam the event in 50.70 to round out the podium.

In a close race between the Top 5 finishers in the 100-yard breaststroke, Todd Penoyar of Indiana came out with the win and a pool record of 56.05. Buckeye Sam Pelkey (Fr., Muncie, Ind./Delta) finished third in the event in his fastest time of the season, 56.61. Travesso (56.83) and Daniel Malnik (Fr., Rishon le-Zion, Israel/Gan-Nahum) (56.96) also swam the event for Ohio State, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Buckeyes again went 2-3 in the 200-yard butterfly, with Matthias Sigrist (So., Schaffhausen, Switzerland/Schaffhausen) picking up the silver in a time of 1:48.58. Novak completed the race in 1:50.92 for third.

Indiana swimmers sandwiched Voelker on the podium in the 50-yard freestyle, who finished second in 20.84. Ohio State found itself in the 2-3 position for the third time when Doyle recorded a time of 45.62 in the 100-yard freestyle for second place. Voelker finished behind him in third place with 45.94.

Lemyre and King again finished second and third, respectively, in the 200-yard backstroke. Lemyre swam a time of 1:48.56 while King finished the race in 1:48.71. Malnik touched the wall second in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:02.27. Teammate Pelkey was behind in third with 2:05.42.

In the 100-yard butterfly, the Buckeyes were responsible for the second, third, and fourth places. Novak swam the event in 50.28 for second, while Sigrist completed it in 50.36 for third. Doyle finished the sprint fly event in 50.47 for fourth. King (1:51.97) was Ohio State's fastest swimmer in the 200-yard individual medley to place second.

The men ended the meet with a first-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quad of Voelker, Lemyre, Doyle and Sigrist swam the race in 3:03.60, while the team of Kordel, Busch, Travesso and Joel Elber (Fr., Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) finished in 3:07.11 for second place.

The Buckeyes will return to action Friday at 5 p.m. with they travel to Western Illinois before swimming at Iowa Saturday at 11 a.m.

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