Men's Swimming breaks 14 school, 8 OAC records en route to its fifth consecutive OAC Championships crown

Michael Schultz

By Tim Glon

| Championships Site |

AKRON — The Ohio Northern men’s swimming and diving team won its fifth consecutive OAC Championships crown Thursday-Saturday at the 2009 OAC Championships meet at the University of Akron's Ocasek Nataorium.

The Polar Bears (9-5 overall, 4-0 OAC) won the 5-team meet with 303 points, defeating second-place Baldwin-Wallace by a whopping 101 points.

Ohio Northern won the OAC Regular Season title with a perfect 4-0 record this season.

The Polar Bears won 14 of the 20 events, setting 14 school and eight OAC records in the process.

ONU won four of the five relays, setting OAC and ONU records in the 200 free (1:25.20), 400 free (3:01.17), 800 free (6:52.55) and 400 medley (3:31.69) relays.

The Polar Bears also surpassed the NCAA “B” Cut in the 400 and 800 free relays.

Northern also had three pool records and had seven NCAA qualifying performances.

Sophomore Michael Schultz (New Berlin, Wis./Martin Luther), was named the OAC Men’s Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season, sweeping the 200, 500 and 1650 free events.

Schultz won six OAC crowns and qualified for the NCAA Championships with OAC records and NCAA qualifying marks in the 200 (1:40.79), 500 (4:28.33) and 1650 (15:45.82) freestyle events.

He set the Ocasek Natatorium records in the 1,000 (9:33.63) and 1,650 free events and surpassed the NCAA “A” Cut in both the 500 and 1650 free.

Senior George Chesney (North Olmsted) defended his 3-meter diving OAC crown and was named the OAC Men’s Diver of the Year.

He won the 3-meter with 484 points and was All-OAC with a second place finish in the 1-meter with 466.50 points. He surpassed the NCAA “B” cut in both events.

Senior Brett Kuhn (Tiffin/Columbian) won the 50 free in an ONU record and NCAA “B” Cut time of 21.09. He won four OAC titles overall and ends his career with an ONU record 15 OAC titles to his credit. He earned All-OAC honors in 24 events in his career.

Freshman Ryan Bender (Dayton/Centerville) won the 200 I.M. in 1:57.39 and the 200 back in 1:55.27 and finished the weekend with four OAC titles to his credit.

Sophomore Garrett Dauch (Norwalk/Saint Paul) won the 100 fly in :50.95, setting OAC and ONU records and surpassing the NCAA “B” Cut in the process. In all, he won three OAC titles on the weekend.

Dauch also set an OAC and ONU record in the 100 back, as he was clocked in :53.59 in the first leg of Northern’s winning 400 Medley Relay team.

Senior Jeb Deal (Massillon/Washington) won the OAC crown in the 100 breast in :59.95 and was on ONU’s winning 400 medley relay team.

Sophomore Ryan Oberst (New Berlin, Wis./West) won the 200 breast in 2:12.90 and was also on ONU’s winning 200 free relay squad.

Freshman Anders Samuelson (Urbana/Springfield Catholic Central) was on all four of Ohio Northern’s winning relay teams.

The NCAA III Championships field will be announced on March 2.