Men’s swimming wins MAC championship in Oxford

The Miami University men’s swimming team captured the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship this weekend, setting a few records in the process.

The conference championship meet was held in Oxford at the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center, which is located inside the Rec Center.

The action started on Thursday with the 200-yard freestyle medley relay. The foursome of sophomore Pedro Gueiros, junior Cole Grosshans, junior Nick Wamsley and junior Ben Chatwin set a MAC record with a time of 1:18.73, picking up a first-place finish.

Wamsley helped the RedHawks pick up another MAC record later in the day, as Wamsley, senior Noah Barr and first-years Owen Blazer and Henju Duvenhage won the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:10.30.

Duvenhage picked up an individual victory as well, winning the 200 individual medley in 1:45.45.

Miami’s dominance continued into Friday. The four-man team of Blazer, Barr, Duvenhage and Chatwin won the 200-medley relay in 1:25.91.

While the ’Hawks were impressive in medley relays, Friday saw the team also earn some individual wins.

Duvenhage won the 400 individual medley (3:48.03), and Blazer won the 100-yard backstroke (47.68). The top-three finishers in the 100-butterfly were all RedHawks, as junior Ryan Sego took home a first-place finish (47.92). Blazer and Wamsley somehow finished with identical times of 48.20 seconds, tying for second place.

After two days, Miami held the top spot, earning 629 total points.

There weren’t a lot of individual first place finishes for the RedHawks Saturday, but there were enough close calls. Chatwin, Barr and Blazer each finished in the top-three in their respective events. Duvenhage won the 200-butterfly with a time of 1:44.46.

Miami picked up another relay win, as Duvenhage, Gueiros, Wamsley and Chatwin won the 400 freestyle relay in 2:55.35.

The team’s performance on Saturday was enough to stay in first place, clinching the MAC championship. The RedHawks finished with 932 overall points, far outpacing second-place Missouri State, who compiled 687 points.

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The team picked up a lot of individual awards and honors after the meet. Duvenhage, Sego, Blazer and Wamsley were each named to the All-MAC first team, and a slew of RedHawks were named to the second team.

Duvenhage was the big winner. He won both Outstanding Swimmer and Freshman Swimmer of the Year. Barr, who was an All-MAC second team honoree, won Co-Outstanding Senior of the Year.

Head Coach Hollie Bonewit-Cron was named the MAC Swimming Coach of the Year.

Bonewit-Cron will look to replicate last weekend’s success as she takes the women’s swimming and diving team to their MAC championship meet. The meet will be held in Ypsilanti, Mich., the home of Eastern Michigan University, April 15-17.

@LukasTheDream

nelso156@miamioh.edu