Last Tri-Meet For Swim and Dive; Oakland Hosts Miami (OH) and Denison

ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University’s swimming and diving crew returns to motion within the new yr, taking over Miami (OH) and Denison on the OU Aquatic Center. The two-day tri-meet will start at 4 PM on Friday, January 9, and proceed at 10 AM on Saturday, January 10. 

Oakland has confronted Miami (OH) through the common season because the 2021-22 season. However, this would be the first time the Golden Grizzlies compete in opposition to Denison because the 1998-99 season, when Oakland was transitioning from Division II to Division I athletics.

WOMEN’S PREVIEW

In their final competitors, simply over a month in the past, the Oakland University girls completed in third place within the first annual Golden Grizzly Classic. Notable victories through the four-day meet embody Victoria Sanders’ win within the 1-meter dive and Lydia Soldatke’s sweep of the 100 and 200 again, the place Soldatke broke her personal pool report within the 200 by 0.06 seconds. 

Both Sanders and Soldatke have been acknowledged because the #HLSD Diver and Swimmer of the Week, respectively, for the week of December 3-9 with their top-finishing performances.

MEN’S PREVIEW

Also competing within the Golden Grizzly Classic, the lads additionally completed in third place alongside the ladies. First-place highlights included the 200 medley relay crew consisting of Charles Brown, Alexander Lakin, Micah Scheffer, and Harry Nicholson, in addition to particular person victories from Ike Martinez within the 500 free, Max Haney within the 200 IM and 200 again, Joseph Countryman within the 200 free, Lakin within the 100 breast, and Cooper Dillman within the 1650 free.

With his two first-place finishes, Haney earned his first #HLSD Swimmer of the Week recognition on the lads’s facet, becoming a member of Sanders and Soldatke in receiving the weekly honor.

SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS

Oakland has been competing in opposition to Miami (OH) because the 2020-21 season, when the lads’s crew took half within the Miami Last Chance Meet in Oxford, Ohio. From the 2021-22 season onward, the Golden Grizzlies and Redhawks have confronted each other yearly through the common season.

Last season, the Black and Gold traveled to Oxford, the place each the ladies’s (82-218) and males’s (121-179) groups fell to the Red and White. Despite the loss, a number of athletes recorded season and personal-best occasions. Top performances got here from Christopher Palvadre, Nicholas Karel Subagyo, and Mia Englender.

This yr, the Redhawks have confronted competitors much like the Golden Grizzlies. Miami (OH) has competed in opposition to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, with each the lads’s and ladies’s groups falling to the Bearcats and Panthers. Oakland’s males secured a victory over the Bearcats, 192.5-154.5, whereas they fell to Pittsburgh. On the ladies’s facet, OU dropped their matchups in opposition to Cincinnati and Pitt. However, in these losses for each groups, the Golden Grizzlies scored extra factors than Miami (OH) did in its meets in opposition to the identical opponents. The Redhawks additionally competed in opposition to Northern Kentucky, a convention competitor Oakland will see later this season on the Horizon League Championships.

SCOUTING DENISON

Denison will compete in opposition to Oakland for the primary time in over 25 years through the tri-meet. In their final assembly, through the 1998-99 season, Oakland was within the midst of transitioning from Division II to Division I athletics, and the Golden Grizzlies got here away with the win. Before the ultimate transition, the “Big Red” and the then “Pioneers” met eight occasions in 9 years, starting with the 1990-91 season.

Currently, Denison’s males’s swim crew is ranked first, and the ladies’s crew is ranked fourth amongst Division III swimming and diving applications, in line with the CSCAA polls. Last season, the lads gained their sixth NCAA Division III championship. The girls have gained two nationwide championships of their program’s historical past, most not too long ago in 2023.

ORDER OF EVENTS

Friday | 4 PM Start

200 Medley Relay 

400 IM 

200 Free

100 Fly 

1M Diving (W) 3 Meter (M)

100 Breast 

50 Free 

500 Free 

100 Back 

400 Free Relay 

Saturday | 10 AM Start 

400 Medley Relay

1000 Free

200 IM 

200 Back 

1M Diving (M) 3 Meter (W)

100 Free 

200 Fly 

200 Breast 

200 Free Relay

How to Follow Oakland Swimming and Diving: For full data on Oakland Swimming and Diving, observe the crew on Instagram and on X at @OAK_swim_dive.