OU swim coach Hovland records 300th career victory

ROCHESTER HILLS  – Oakland head coach Pete Hovland earned his 300^th career victory at Oakland as the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams earned wins over both Cleveland State and Xavier Saturday afternoon in the OU Aquatic Center.

“This isn’t just about me, it’s about all the coaches and assistants I’ve worked with and a lot of kids who have sacrificed to get to this point,” said Hovland.  “I hope all my athletes over the years will look back and take pride in the part they played in all of this and I really appreciate everything they have done.”

The women beat Cleveland State with a score of 142-101 and earned a victory over Xavier with a score of 186-51.  Cleveland State earned the victory over Xavier with a score of 155-82.  The men beat Xavier with a final score of 163-42 and beat Cleveland State 134-103.  Cleveland State got the win over Xavier with a score of 165-72.

For the women, Vanessza Balogh earned three individual victories in the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.92), 500-yard freestyle (4:59.23) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.83).  Julieanna Stears touched the wall first in the 1,000-free with a time of 10:34.48 and Alyssa Vela won the 100-free with a time of 52.56.  Marcella Barretta earned her highest score of the season while winning the one-meter diving event with a score of 291.60.  The team of Margo Stanfa, Johanna Gustafsson, Sandra Czerska and Vela won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:54.72.

On the men’s side, Amr el Sayed earned two individual victories in the 1,000- and 500-free events, 9:25.46 and 4:31.70 respectively, while Tim Montague was runner-up in both events, 9:41.75 and 4:43.07 respectively.  Oakland had five different individual winners, including Nick Evans in the 200-free (1:41.77), Tobias Hansen in the 200 I.M. (1:53.45), Grant Harding in the 200-yard backstroke (1:51.83) and Joe Rodgers in the 200-breast (2:04.94).

The Golden Grizzlies also swept the relays as the team of Anders Jensen, Scott Yarbrough, Alex Aceino and Matyas Keresztes won the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:21.74, while the team of Zach Johnson, Evans, Jordan Moses and Harding won the 400 free relay with a time of 3:04.82.

Oakland will be home next weekend as they will host Ashland, Cincinnati and Kenyon in a two-day meet that will begin on Friday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. and will continue on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m.

Tags: college swimming, Oakland University Swimming, swimming

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