The No. 12 Ohio State swimming and diving team defeated Denison 182-106 on Friday. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Lantern File Photo
The No. 12 Ohio State men’s swim and dive team faced Denison Friday at the Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion in Columbus, defeating the Big Red with a score of 182-106.
The Buckeyes are currently undefeated in regular season play, defeating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, 187.5 – 165.5 Oct. 29 in their season opener. The matchup was the Buckeyes’ first home meet of the season, and associate head coach Michael Hulme said it feels good to be back in Columbus.
“It’s good to see the crowds packed and having our fans up there and the kids being with their parents,” Hulme said.
Junior swimmer Charlie Clark — who won the 1,000-meter freestyle race Friday — echoed Hulme’s sentiments and said being at home feels good this early in the season.
“It felt really good to be back with my teammates,” Clark said. “Just training with my teammates feels really good.”
The night kicked off with both teams competing in the 200-meter medley relay, with the Buckeyes scoring 15 points to Denison’s two. In the following three events, the Buckeyes triumphed over Denison.
Among these wins were in the men’s 200-meter freestyle finals by senior Thomas Watkins and the men’s 100-meter backstroke finals by graduate Ruslan Gaziev.
The meet continued with the men’s 100-meter breaststroke event, the men’s 200-meter fly finals, and the men’s 50-meter freestyle event. The Buckeyes secured wins in all three events, with seniors Ian Mikesell, Chachi Gustafson and James Ward winning, respectively.
The men’s 3-meter dive event saw all six competing Buckeyes scoring above 300 points — with no Denison swimmers reaching the mark — and Buckeyes senior diver Lyle Yost rounded out the winners for the Buckeyes.
“Swimming is a unique sport, and our season is really long,” Hulme said. “We’re in the point of our season now where we’re doing kind of a lot of the foundational hard work which leads to success, so we’ve been really trying to set our eyes on the end of the season. That looks different for our freshmen than it does to our seniors, but it’s just embracing our process and getting good at our process.”
Clark said he’s been happy with his performance, but the team’s overall experience of this season is positive.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” Clark said. “We’re in the thick of the season, training has been really hard recently, so I’ve been pretty beat up in the weight room and the pool, and I feel like my performances today were pretty solid. I executed my races well. I feel like I split it well, so it’s just good experience for the rest of the season.”
Clark previously won a bronze medal at the Big Ten Championships in February and said he’s been happier with his performances this season than nine months ago, seeing his own improvement.
“I’m pretty new to international swimming, but every time I get to race at that level, it’s a learning opportunity and I didn’t necessarily perform as well as I wanted to, so I would say today that I am happier with my races,” Clark said.
The meet progressed with the men’s 200-meter breast, back and fly events taking place with senior Billy Regan, junior Owen Conley and Gustafson placing first, respectively.
Denison sophomore Tyler Distenfield took first for the Big Red in the men’s 500-meter free, and Denison fifth-year Richie Kurlich took first place in the men’s 100-meter butterfly.
Denison sophomore Patrick Daly placed first in the men’s 200-meter individual medley, and Gaziev took first in the final event of the night, the men’s 400-meter free relay.
Hulee said the matchup against Denison is beneficial for the team as , calling the Big Red are filled with “great athletes.”
“I think it’s great, we swim Denison almost every year,” Hulme said. “They’re so close and they’ve got such a great thing going in terms of who they are and what they do. I mean, they’re Division III National Champions, they’ve got great athletes and a lot of these kids have raced each other in high school and have Ohio kids on the team, and [McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion] is just a great spot to get two teams together and race.”
The Buckeyes next compete in the Ohio State Fall Invitational Thursday through Saturday.
