Olivet College’s 200 freestyle relay makes the finals at NCAA DIII Championships, but is disqualified
There was good news and bad news for the Olivet College men's 200 freestyle relay team of Brian Fiorillo, Mike Harden, Ben Aldrich and Austin Munn today at the NCAA DIII National Championships. The good news was they posted the ninth-fastest time during the preliminaries to qualify for the consolation finals. The bad news is during the finals, they were disqualified.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – There was good news and bad news for the Olivet College men's 200 freestyle relay team of sophomore Brian Fiorillo (Southgate/ Anderson), senior Mike Harden (St. Johns), sophomore Ben Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) and senior Austin Munn (Pinckney) today at the NCAA DIII National Championships. The good news was they posted the ninth-fastest time during the preliminaries to qualify for the consolation finals. The bad news is during the finals, they were disqualified.
Seeded 16th, the relay stopped the clocked during the preliminaries at 1:22.87, which was also one-hundredth off their school record time. This accomplishment marked the first time in school history that the Comets had a relay compete in the evening finals at the national championships. In the prelims, Olivet's four swimmers had nearly identical splits, as Fiorillo led off with a 20.98, followed by Harden (20.80), Aldrich (20.41) and Munn (20.68).
Fiorillo and Harden joined with junior Nick Edgar (Lansing/Everett) and freshman Phil Barone, Jr. (Perrysburg, Ohio/St. Francis de Sales) in the prelims of the 400 medley relay this morning, but were also disqualified for a false start.
Friday will be a busy day for the Comets, as the 800 freestyle relay will take place. Individually, Edgar will swim in the 100 backstroke and Barone, Jr. will swim in the 100 breaststroke. In Saturday's final day of action, Fiorillo will swim in the 100 freestyle, and the 400 freestyle relay will be held.