General swimmers finish second in NEAC swim championships

  • brian questel
  • January 12, 2012
  • 323
                        
011612 NEACboys Promo: In a battle of depth, Canfield slips by Wooster for NEAC title General swimmers finish second in NEAC swim championships By Brian Questel Wooster had no answer for Canfield’s thirds and that made all the difference in the race for first. Hosting the Northeast Aquatic Championships Jan. 6-7, Wooster came close to winning the NEAC crown, but ultimately fell short to Canfield, which posted 402.5 points to get by the Generals’ 372.5 point showing. The NEAC was a two-team race for the top and a two-team race for third, as Warren Harding nipped GlenOak 288-287. Boardman (235), Kent Roosevelt (225), Massillon (152) and Perry (113) rounded out the field. “The kids swam well,” said Wooster coach Jeff DeHaan. “We had some personal-best times. We lost the quad meet (against Canfield) by one point, so their third guy was better than our third. In the 100 free, they went 1-2-5 and we were 3-6 and had a DQ, where we would have been eighth. B.J. Graham (50.68) had his best time and was third and Joel Jones (51.56) had a PB time that beat his taper-and-shaved time form last year, but that’s an example … of them finishing just ahead of us. “That’s why we were so close in our quad, because we were swimming only two swimmers. With our youngsters, this was their first championship meet and a big crowd. Guys like Chad Tennant and Kevin White had never swum in a meet like that and had PB times. Both had PBs in the 500 … so you can’t fight that. When you have PB times and lose, it’s about competition and we’ll take second to Canfield. They are a good team.” DeHaan pointed out the Generals were up 42 points after Javan Starkey (second, 321.05 points), Cooper Orr (235.45) and Troy Chipka (202.80) went 2-5-8 to get the Generals off to a good start in the diving, which was held in Wooster Friday night. “We were up 42 points from diving, trying to hold Canfield off and it didn’t work out,” said DeHaan. “That tells you how good they are. We were bleeding points every event. … You’re not going to hold off anyone doing that. If you’re going to win, you’ve gotta be about perfect.” Wooster won only one race, that coming from Matthew Dyer in the 500 as he clocked a 5:06.97 as a strong finish carried him to the win. “What a race that was,” said DeHaan. “He came back on (Canfield’s Drew Bennett) in the last 25. He was two feet behind at the turn, so the sprint work is helping out because he was sprinting at the end. He took three seconds off his time and that’s a huge time drop. He came in (the season) at 5:14 and how he’s at 5:06 in his third race of the season. “He took a second off his 200 free (1:52.45) and is now 18th all-time. In the 500, he’s 13th all-time in that and he had two PB’s in his relay splits – everything he swam was a PB.” The Generals had a trio of second-place finishes, with Daniel Ackerman having a hand in all three. The freshman churned to a 2:06.63 in the 200 IM, went 1:03.02 in the 100 breast and then anchored the 400 relay of Dyer, Graham and Jones to a 3:27.82 clocking. “On the heels of Dyer was Daniel Ackerman, who had another incredible day with three of his four races being personal-best times,” said DeHaan. “He had his best split in the 50 breaststroke leg of the medley (28.13). His IM was 2:06.63 and that moves up to 12th all-time, and his breaststroke was 1:03.02, which is sixth all-time.” Thirds came from the 200-yard medley relay of B.J. Graham, Daniel Ackerman, Jacob Ackerman and Bryan Parker as they posted a 1:45.54. Freshman David Goodrich tied for third in the 50 free (23.36); Graham sprinted to a 50.68 in the 100 free, placing 24th all-time; and the 200 free relay of Goodrich, Jones, Parker and Dyer turned in a 1:32.82. “In the 50, Goodrich was the only freshman in the top 16,” said DeHaan. “That a PB and he tied for third. That’s a race dominated by seniors and juniors, and he’s 31st all-time now.” Other top-8 performances came from Dyer, who had a time drop in the 200 free with his 1:52.45 to place fourth, while the Generals had four sixth-place efforts. Two belonged to Joel Jones, one coming in the 200 free (1:58.70) and the other in the 100 free (51.56), and the other two were claimed by Jacob Ackerman as he went 2:14.20 in the 200 IM and broke a minute in the 100 fly with a 58.93. Parker was seventh in the 50 free (23.52) and Graham went 1:02.77 in the 100 backstroke. “We had time drops from Dyer in the 200 free, Jones had a season-best in the 200 free and PB in the 100 free, which beat his taper-and-shaved time,” said DeHaan. “Parker had a PB time and made the top 40 in the 50 with a 23.52. He made the podium and that 23.52 is 36th all-time. “Javan Starkey was second in diving and for 11 dives, his 321.05 is seventh all-time. Coop failed one dive, but he had a 235.45 … and is 13th all-time, and Troy Chipka had a 202.80, which was his best score ever and puts him 29th on the top 40 list. That was a strong event for us. “The 200 free relay was incredible,” DeHaan added. “We took two seconds off our seed time. Joel Jones, who had never broken 23, went 22.77 and Parker tied his PB. We were fourth, but who cares? We took two seconds off and made the Top 40 list. We went from not being on the list to 30th and that’s exciting.” The Generals also moved up on the 400 free relay chart as well twice. In a dual two days earlier against Hoover, the team of Dyer, Daniel Ackerman, Parker and Graham went 3:27.44 to grab 33rd, while at NEACs Dyer, Graham, Jones and Ackerman went 3:27.82 to settle in at 34th. DeHaan also singled out major improvements in the 500 from White, who broke six minutes for the first time with a 12-second drop (5:58.13), and Chad Tennent slashed six seconds to 6:02.38. Now it’s on to OCC and an attempt to win the title for the ninth consecutive season, which is foremost on the minds of senior captains Jones and Jacob Ackerman. Jones was pleased with his day’s work, especially after dropping two seconds in the 100 free and adding a PB in the 200 free. “I was pleased with it,” he said. “It’s not always about winning, but about doing your best and putting in as much effort as you can. (In the 100), once I started swimming and I looked over and saw I was ahead of a lot of guys, I pushed even harder. “Even last year we didn’t win NEAC and we pulled off an OCC win. As long keep at it and don’t let NEAC decide OCC, we’ll be fine.” Ackerman echoed those comments as well. Although “not where I want to be,” Ackerman was “OK” with his NEAC performance. He suffers from chlorine-induced asthma, which has hampered both his training and meet performances, but he’s geared up for OCCs. “We’re all really excited and I’m especially excited,” said Ackerman. “I’ve been here three years and had three OCC wins – I’m looking for a fourth. With the young guys stepping up, it’s something good. Maybe some teams thought we’d have a rebuilding year … after having to replace the guys we lost, but we rebuilt ourselves in a year.” Diving will open at 5 p.m. Jan. 11, with swimming beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load