Swim teams open season with first-place finishers

Tyler McCluskey, Swim Reporter

The Eastern men’s and women’s swim teams started its seasons on Friday with a split for the women and a loss for the men.

The men lost to IUPUI 133-66. The women also lost to IUPUI 142-61 but picked up a win against Butler 150-55 Friday.

Sophomore Lauren Oostman finished second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:06.57. Oostman was nearly a second behind Butler’s Grace Grzybeck.

Junior Danielle DiMatteo recorded a second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle behind IUPUI’s Brittani Grove by 0.8 seconds. DiMatteo finished with a time of 54.33. DiMatteo also finished third in the 50-free with a time of 25.40 behind Madison Himler of Butler and Maranda Buha of IUPUI.

DiMatteo and Oostman paired up with freshman Rachel Manderscheid and sophomore Martee Grainger to take third place in the 400-medley relay with a time of 4:03.33. Junior Niki Beringer, senior Paige Eavenson, freshman Julia Martin, and freshman Sara Dains ended up in sixth with a time of 4:15.10.

For the men in the 200-yard breaststroke, the Panthers took the top three spots. Juniors Matt Jacobs, Brandon Robbins and freshman Colin Frazee had times of 2:09.06, 2:10.77, and 2:25.46. Robbins also took second place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 27.66. Sophomore Nick Harkins grabbed fourth and sophomore Gerald Stingle ended in fifth with times of 1:49.11 and 1.53.39.

The Panthers took the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Junior Patrick Wood, sophomore Logan Long, sophomore Tyler Parrish, and junior Shamus Shields ended up with a time of 1:31.98. Teammates junior Ben Pitlock, Gerald Stingle, sophomore Jason Manning, and sophomore Alex Laleian finished right behind them with a time of 1:34.46.

Senior Brogan O’Doherty came in second in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing behind IUPUI’s Jayden Parrett with a time of 2:02.14. Pitlock finished in fifth place with a 2:13.20.

The Panthers will host Valparaiso in their home opener Saturday at the Padovan Pool beginning at 1 p.m.

Tyler McCluskey can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]