Men’s swimming team leads Carthage College Classic

KENOSHSA, Wis. – The Olivet College men's swimming team sits in first-place after day one of the Carthage CollegeSwimming.com Classic at the Koenitzer Aquatic Center in Kenosha, Wis. The Comets have scored 481.5 points and are 32.5 points ahead of the host Red Men. Lewis (Ill.) University is third, 361.5; and Lake Forest (Ill.) College is fourth, 303.

Olivet got off to a fast start in the evening finals with the quartet of sophomore Brian Fiorillo (Southgate/Anderson), senior Mike Harden (St. Johns), sophomore Ben Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) and senior Austin Munn (Pinckney) winning the 200 freestyle relay in an NCAA championships provisional qualifying time of 1:23.46. The Comets 400 medley relay finished in second in 3:32.34. As a part of the morning preliminaries, the 800 freestyle relay placed third in 7:27.45.

The same quartet all placed in the top 8 of the 100 freestyle. Harden led a 1-2 Comet finish, stopping the clock in 46.91 seconds, followed by Fiorillo in 47.63 seconds. Munn was fourth in 47.82 seconds and Ben Aldrich was eighth in 48.78 seconds.

The Comets had three swimmers place in the top 10 of the 200 individual medley. Freshman Georges Aoun (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/Unidad Educativa Colegio) was the best finisher, placing third in a season-best time of 1:58.87. Junior Josh Mauk (Battle Creek/Lakeview) was eighth in 2:02.18, and freshman Alec Thurston (Kingsford) was 10th in 2:03.02.

Sophomore Korey Mervenne (Jenison) finished in eighth-place in the 500 freestyle (4:57.50), and freshman Jimmy DeRupa (Trenton) was right behind him in ninth-place (4:58.21).

Freshman Phil Barone ,Jr. (Perrysburg, Ohio/St. Francis de Sales) won the 100 breaststroke in 59.47 seconds. Mauk placed and senior Matt Marquette (Kalamazoo/Loy Norrix) placed fourth (1:00.50) and fifth (1:00.82), respectively.

The Comets had five swimmers finish in the top 10 of the 200 backstroke. Freshman Brandon McShane (Southgate/Anderson) was third in 1:57.27, followed by Thurston in fifth (2:00.12), junior Nick Edgar (Lansing/Everett) in sixth (2:01.32), Mervenne in eighth (2:04.44) and sophomore Brad Ardelean (Owosso) in 10th (2:21.46).

In the 200 butterfly, Aoun was the runner-up finisher, and his time was 1:56.42. Sophomore Tyler Russell (Bay City/Central) placed seventh in 2:04.68.

Action concludes tomorrow with preliminaries at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 4 p.m. CT.