Men's Swimming & Diving win all five events, set six school records on Day 1 of OAC Championships

Brett Kuhn

By Brett Katana

| Results |

AKRON — The Ohio Northern Men’s swimming and diving team jumped won all five events, setting four OAC records and six school records, on Day 1 of the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships at the Ocasek Natatorium at the University of Akron Thursday night.

Northern is aiming to caputre its fifth straight OAC Championships title and leads after the first of three days with 84 points followed by John Carroll with 50.

Michael Schultz, the 2008 OAC Men's Swimmer of the Year, won his second consecutive title in the 500 Freestyle, finishing in 4:28.83. Schultz broke his own OAC and school record of 4:36.38 and surpassed the NCAA “A” cut of 4:31.64.

After earning All-OAC honors in the 50 free in each of his first three seasons as a Polar Bear, senior Brett Kuhn finally broke through with a conference title, winning the event in 21.09 to break the old school record of 21.52. Kuhn also passed the NCAA “B” cut of 21.17.

The 50 free record was actually broken three times on Thursday. Garrett Dauch set the record in the prelims Thursday morning with a 21.45 leadoff leg of the 200 free relay, then Anders Samuelson swam a 21.27 in the 50 free prelims later Thursday morning. Kuhn the posted the 21.07 effort in the finals to win the OAC title and re-establish a record in the event.

Ryan Bender won the 200 individual medley in 1:57.39, breaking the previous school record of 1:58.03.

Dauch also set the school record in the 100 back with a 53.59 leadoff leg in the 400 medley relay in the prelims Thursday morning.

In the 200 freestyle relay, Anders Samuelson, Dauch, Ryan Oberst, and Kuhn teamed together to break the conference championship mark of 1:25.77 and the school record of 1:27.05 with a winning time of 1:25.20.

Kuhn's two OAC titles on Thursday gives him a school-record 13 OAC titles in his career.

Jeb Deal, Ryan Bender, Schultz, and Samuelson won the 400 medley relay in 3:31.69. They broke the conference championship mark of 3:31.76 and the school record of 3:34.97.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that Ohio Northern has won the OAC title in the 400 medley relay.

Dauch also set the school record in the 100 back with a 53.59 leadoff leg in the 400 medley relay in the prelims Thursday morning.

Oberst touched second in the 200 individual melay relay in 1:59.87 to earn All-Conference honors.

Casey Davis finished third in the 500 freestyle in 4:48.47 to earn All-Conference honors.

The Polar Bears will resume their quest for a fifth straight OAC Championships title onFriday with preliminaries at 11 am and finals at 6 pm at the Ocasek Natatorium.