Clutch performances and lifetime best times keyed Western’s victory in the Golden Grizzly Quad Meet on Saturday in Rochester, Mich.
The Toppers (4-0) and Lady Toppers (4-0) took home the team titles, defeating Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 182-59, Oakland 127-114, and Wayne State 191-32.
The Lady Toppers defeated IUPUI 205-38, Oakland 137-106, and Wayne State 193-50.
“It was a great meet,” Coach Bruce Marchionda said. “We had a couple of lifetime bests, which is really rare at this time of year.”
The meet came down to the last event on the men’s side. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Greg Gerum, sophomore Lukasz Herbst, senior Brian Lewis, and senior Francis Gilmore swam a time of 3:04.66, capturing the overall victory on the men’s side.
The Toppers were able to collect second-place performances in diving from both sophomore Peyton Thomas (269.85 points) in the 3-meter dive, and junior Emily Waits (225.10) in the one-meter dive.
Marchionda said another major turnaround occurred when Herbst pulled off a victory in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 46.63, despite swimming with an injured ankle.
The meet came down to the last two events for the Lady Toppers. The 200-yard breast stroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Sophomore Brittany Doss won the event with a time of 2:24.02. The team of freshman Claire Donahue, freshman Kaitlyn Casper, sophomore Jessica Aspinall, and senior Mallory Neltner captured the 400 free relay with a time of 3:32.07.
“Before going into the race we all just tried to get as hyped up as possible,” Casper said. “We just didn’t hold back, and once it was over with we were very excited. It was actually really nice to be on the winning end of things, especially with the way that the meet had gone all day.”
Western will compete next on Saturday at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
“Georgia Tech will be tougher,” assistant coach Rita Kalmikova said. “But with the times we swam this past weekend, it should worry them a little bit.”
Reach Kori Farr at sports@chherald.com.
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