COLUMBUS, Ohio - Friday the 13th was a good day for Ohio State men's swimming and diving, and for 21st-year swimming coach Bill Wadley. Sending half his team to Oxford, Ohio to swim against Miami and keeping half home to compete against Denison, Wadley's Buckeyes pulled off twin wins and in the process Wadley has become the winningest dual meet coach in Ohio State history.
Assistant coach Jessen Book stayed in Columbus, where his swimmers defeated Denison, 173-80, at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Wadley took the other half of the team and, in tandem with coach Vince Panzano's divers, defeated Miami, 189-107. The two-pool-double-dual meet wins improved Ohio State's record to 3-0 this season and earned Wadley his 179th and 180th career victories, one more than the great Mike Peppe had in his career.
"Jess gets the credit for the win over Denison," Wadley said. "He does all the hard work anyway but he was the one strategizing and making all the decisions."
The win over Denison was led by three-even winner Itai Chammah (100 back, 100 free & 200 back) and multiple-event winners Lincoln Fahrbach (50 & 100 free), Sam Pelkey (100 & 200 breaststroke) , George Markovic (200 & 500 free) and Luke Stirton (100 and 200 butterfly). Alex Chen also picked up a win, in the 1000 freestyle, as did Michael Hulme in the 400 individual medley.
"Overall, our goals were to just race," Book said. "Itai swam well. He has great leadership and is an overall positive influence for our team. I was happy with his accomplishments in the water tonight."
Andrew Olson (100 & 200 free) and Dani Malnik (200 breaststroke & 200 IM) each swam to two individual event wins against Miami. The balanced effort included six additional Buckeye individual wins and a win from senior diver Ryan Jefferson on the three-meter springboard event.
More on Coach Bill Wadley
Bill Wadley has a career dual meet record of 203-43. He has coached 15 Olympians and his teams have been ranked in the NCAA Top 25 for 17 of the past 20 seasons. Buckeye swimmers and divers have qualified for the NCAA championships in 18 of Wadley's 20 years as coach. His Ohio State dual-meet record of 180-33. Wadley has produced more than 35 world-ranked swimmers and 15 of his student-athletes have reached the Olympics, including current Buckeyes Itai Chammah and Niksa Roki.
Up Next
The men's swimming and diving team, as well as the women's teams, will compete in the three-day Purdue Invitational at West Lafayette, Ind., Nov. 20-22. The site of the 2010 women's Big Ten and NCAA championships, this meet will be contested with the three-day championship format.
Men's Swimming Twin Win No. 1
Friday, November 13, 2009
Columbus, Ohio
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion
Team Scores: 1. Ohio State - 173; 2. Denison - 80
Ohio State Event Winners: 200 medley relay - Chammah, Pelkey, Stirton, Fahrbach (1:33.57); 1000 freestyle - Chen (9:36.72); 200 freestyle - Markovic (1:41.18); 100 backstroke - Chammah (50.26); 100 breaststroke - Pelkey (57.96); 200 butterfly - Stirton (1:53.18); 50 freestyle - Fahrbach (21.35); 100 freestyle - Fahrbach (47.88); 200 backstroke - Itai Chammah (1:51.02); 200 breaststroke - Pelkey (2:08.11); 500 freestyle - George Markovic (4:37.84); 100 butterfly - Stirton (51.15); 400 IM - Hulme (4:04.89); 400 freestyle relay - Fahrbach, De Wet, Markovic, Baumann (3:09.70).
Men's Swimming Twin Win No. 2
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
Oxford, Ohio
Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center
Team Scores: 1. Ohio State 189; 2. Miami 107
Ohio State Event Winners: 200 medley relay - Elliott, Keefer, Phillips, Elber (1:31.53); 1000 freestyle - Sigrist (9:25.11); 200 freestyle - Olson (1:40.42); 100 backstroke - Elliott (49.35); 100 breaststroke - Keefer (555.94); 200 butterfly - Mudd (1:53.11); 50 freestyle - Elber (21.09); 3-meter diving - Jefferson (390.22); 100 freestyle - Olson (46.30); 200 backstroke - Roki (1:51.07); 200 breaststroke - Malnik (2:05.23); 200 IM - Malnik (1:58.05); 400 freestyle relay - Holmes, Olson, Elber, Phillips (3:04.34)
####