BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University men's swimming and diving team opened the 2021 season as it fell to the University of Mount Union in an Ohio Athletic Conference dual meet by a final score of 170-64 in the BW Natatorium inside the Lou Higgins Center.

BW (0-1, 0-1 OAC) was led by sophomore All-OAC diver Zachary Pierce (Willis, Texas/Klein Collins) as he won both the 1-meter five-dive and six-dive events.  Pierce opened the meet by winning the five-dive event with a total of 162.15 points.  He won the final event of the meet as he captured the six-dive event with a career-best total points of 372.65.

Earning a victory was sophomore freestyler Austin Olsavsky (Medina) as he won the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:01.78.  Olsavsky also took third in the 200-yard individual medley in a career-best time of 2:06.22. 

In addition,  senior freestyler Michael Morsch (Phoenix, Ariz./Notre Dame Preparatory) notched a runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle, a third place finish in the 200-yard backstroke and third in the 500-yard freestyle events. Morsch was second in the 200-free with a time of 1:51.81, third in the 200-back in a time of 58.12 seconds and third in the 500-free in a career-best time of 5:09.61. 

Also, for the Yellow Jackets senior Academic All-OAC performer Matthew Butt (Westfield Center/Cloverleaf) and sophomore stroker Alec McNeill (Avon Lake) had top-3 finishes. Butt was third in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 22.90 and the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 50.38. McNeill took third in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:08.08.

BW is back in action on Saturday, February 6 when it travels to Ada for an OAC dual meet against Ohio Northern University inside the ONU Sports Center at 1 p.m.