Men’s Swimming and Diving Drops Regular Season Finale to Case Western Reserve

Austin Wharton (Photo Courtesy of Jeff Ratino)
Austin Wharton (Photo Courtesy of Jeff Ratino)

CLEVELAND –  The Baldwin Wallace University men's swimming and diving team concluded the regular season portion of its schedule as it fell to in non-conference dual meet to crosstown rival Case Western Reserve University by a final score of 209-64 in the Veale Natatorium.

BW men (2-8) was led by sophomore All-Ohio Athletic Conference performer Michael Lewis (Lancaster) as he won the 50-yard breaststroke in a season-best time of 27.45 seconds and finished fifth in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 22.48.

In addition, freshman diver Zachary Pierce (Spring, Texas/Klein Collins) was the runner-up in both the 1-meter and six-dive event with 226.55 points and the 3-meter and six-dive event with  185.85 points. Senior All-OAC All-OAC performer Greg Shaw (Colorado Springs, Colo./Manitou Springs) touched the wall third in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 54.98 , fifth in the 50-yard butterfly in a time of 24.75 and fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:06.91. Senior All-OAC diver Evan Rinaldi (Cleveland/Cleveland Heights) finished third in the 1-meter and six-dive event with a career-best 197.55 points.  Junior Academic All-OAC performer Matthew Butt (Westfield Center/Cloverleaf) took fourth in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 51.01.  Junior stroker Michael Morsch (Phoenix, Ariz./Notre Dame Preparatory) was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 56.09.  Junior freestyler Conner Hartup (Westlake) finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:07.19.  Freshman stroker Austin Olsavsky (Medina) placed fifth in the 50-yard backstroke in a time of 28.48.  Freshman freestyler Austin Wharton (New Albany/Lincoln) was fifth in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:36.32.

BW hosts the three-day Ohio Athletic Conference Championships on Thursday-Saturday, February 13-15 at the Ocasek Natatorium on the campus of the University of Akron.  Preliminary action begins each day at 10 a.m. with finals to be held each night at 6 p.m.  Fans can follow all of the action live at http://homepages.bw.edu/~stats/swim/oac/.