The Oakland women came back on the second day of the Eastern Michigan Invite to catch and pass the home team, taking the team title by 64 points. The Eastern Michigan men won a close victory of their own over Oakland.
Sophomore Karin Tomeckova won three times for Oakland, taking both backstrokes (53.66 and 1:55.35) and the 200 IM (2:01.21) basically unchallenged over the weekend. Oakland also got two wins from fellow sophomore Nikki Flynn, in the 100 and 200 frees with times of 51.50 and 1:52.38, respectively. Oakland took four of the five women’s relays, with Eastern Michigan only winning the 400 free relay friday night.
Other winners for Oakland were freshmen Takara Martin (200 breast) and Patricia Aschan (400 IM), juniors Kyra Rietveld (50 free) and Tricia Grant (1-meter diving) and seniors Julia Vela (100 fly) and Emily Ludema (500 free).
The Eastern Michigan women led by 3 points after day one and kept in the hunt based on depth, winning only four events over the meet. Jessie Godlewski won the 200 fly in a tight race, Monica Dorszewski won her own touch-out in the 100 breast and diver Melynee Saya claimed victory on the 3-meter board. In addition, the 400 free relay was victorious for EMU.
Wayne State distance stud Kristina Novichenko won the 1650 convincingly in 17:08.06. She almost won the 200 fly later that night, taking 3rd in a tight 3-person battle.
On the men’s side Oakland also had a three-event winner, distance star Amr El-Sayed who won the 200, 500 and mile on the day. His times were 1:38.77, 4:26.34 and 15:38.38. Oakland also got multiple wins from Grant Harding (50 free, 100 free) and Hrafn Traustason (100 breast, 200 breast). The Golden Grizzlies also won the 200 and 400 medley relays as well as the 800 free relay, swept the backstroke races with Jorden Merrilees (200 back, 1:46.14) and Aleksander Danielewski (100 back, 49.27) and won the 200 IM with Tuomas Kiviluoma.
Although Oakland won more events, Eastern Michigan prevailed at home for the men. Diver Alexander Chan won both diving events and butterflyer Krzysztof Gilski swept the 100 and 200 flys for the Eagles. They also won the 200 and 400 free relays, as well as claimed victory in the 400 IM with Andrew Henry to claim the overall points trophy.
Oakland, Eastern Michigan and Wayne State were the only teams in attendance on the women’s side, while Ball State joined the men’s field, getting season-best and top-8 performances from Drew Tharp, Austin Green and Tanner Barton.
Women’s Team Scores
1. Oakland University 1106
2. Eastern Michigan University 1042
3. Wayne State University 846
Men’s Team Scores
1. Eastern Michigan University 1140
2. Oakland University 1116
3. Wayne State University 680
4. Ball State University 463