Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eagles Head to MAC Championships
2/26/2008 1:46:08 PM | M. Swim & Dive
MAC has teamed up with the Sun Belt for this year's championship meet
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MAC TEAMING UP WITH SUN BELT: The Mid-American Conference and the Sun Belt Conference have teamed up for this year’s championship meet. Western Kentucky University is the host school, with the meet taking place in Nashville, Tenn., at the Nashville Centennial Sportsplex. The combined meet will be scored as one meet, but student-athletes and teams from each conference will be recognized separately. The top three finishers from each conference will be awarded medals and the top teams from each conference will be named their respective champion. The preliminary races will take place in the same order as the finals. The schedule of events is:
Thursday, Feb. 28
ALL TIMES ARE SITE TIMES (CST)
Swimming preliminaries begin at 11 a.m.
One-meter diving finals at 1:30 p.m.
Finals at 7 p.m.
200 freestyle relay
500 freestyle
200 IM
50 freestyle
400 medley relay
Friday, Feb. 29
Swimming preliminaries begin at 11 a.m.
Finals at 7 p.m.
200 medley relay
400 IM
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
100 breaststroke
100 backstroke
800 freestyle relay
Saturday, March 1
Swimming preliminaries begin at 10:30 a.m.
Three-meter diving finals at 1:30 p.m.
Finals begin at 6 p.m.
1650 freestyle
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
400 freestyle relay
LAST YEAR AT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Eagles captured the 2006-07 MAC Championship title after accumulating 1,008.5 points en route to the victory. EMU captured eight individual titles at the annual meet. Dan Wohl was named Senior Swimmer of the Year concluding the meet, while Peter Linn was honored as Coach of the Year. Eastern placed 15 athletes on All-MAC squads, led by eight first team selections. Last year’s title was the seventh in eight years and the 26th overall for the Eastern Michigan University men’s swimming and diving team.
50 AND COUNTING: The EMU men’s swimming and diving team has won 50 consecutive MAC dual meets, spanning the last nine years. EMU went 3-0 this season to keep the streak in tact. The Eagles last dropped a meet to Toledo, 130-113, at the end of the 1997-98 season. EMU went on to win the conference championship that season, avenging its only conference loss. Since that loss, the Eagles have rattled off the 50 consecutive victories, including capturing eight of the last 10 championships.
EAGLES SWEEP SWIMMER OF THE WEEK AWARDS: After both teams knocked off Miami (Feb. 2) to end the regular season, Donald Ellison and Madeleine Pilchard were named MAC Swimmers of the Week. Ellison won the 100( 58.76) and 200 breaststroke (2:06.54), as well as the 200 IM (1:55.26) to help the Eagles win their 50th consecutive MAC dual meet. Pilchard won the award for the second time this season and for the fifth time in her career. She helped the Eagles to a 159-141 victory over the RedHawks, the first win over Miami since the 2000-01 season. She won the 50 freestyle (23.70) and 500 freestyle (5:04.24), as well as helping the 800 freestyle (7:42.94) relay team to a victory.
ROE NAMED SWIMMER OF THE WEEK: Junior Derick Roe was named Mid-American Conference Swimmer of the Week after his performance against Ball State, Jan. 26. Roe won three events on the day to lead the Eagles to a 196-95 MAC victory over the Cardinals. His individual wins were the 100 freestyle (46.44) and 200 freestyle (1:44.38). Roe was also part of the winning 200 medley relay team (1:33.67), as well as the fastest 400 freestyle relay team, clocking a time of 3:10.03. His relay team would have won the event, but the meet had already gone to exhibition scoring.
TOP OF THE MAC: The men’s swimming and diving team has many of the top times in the conference this year. Derick Roe has the top time in the 50 freestyle, with Dan Kish owning the best 200 freestyle time. Steven Bowling has the best 1650 freestyle time, Andrzej Olesinski has the fastest 100 backstroke time and Mark Kurtzer has the best 200 backstroke time. Don Ellison has the quickest times in the 200 and 400 individual medley, as well as the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Ryan Fulkerson owns the top 100 and 200 butterfly times. In addition to the individual times, the relay teams in the 400 and 800 freestyle, as well as the 200 and 400 medley races are all the best in the conference.
EMU SWEEPS THE GRIZZLIES: Both teams came away with victories against in-state rival Oakland, January 11. The men beat the Grizzlies, 172-128. Ryan Fulkerson won the 100 and 200 butterfly races, with Derick Roe winning the 50 and 100 freestyle races. Steven Bowling (500 and 1,000 freestyle) was the other multiple winner on the evening.
The women came away with a 193-107 victory against Oakland. Madeleine Pilchard won four events on the evening, while Sheila Carson, Lauren Zafir, Catherine Lee Ha and Becky Renkola all won multiple events as well.
