Men’s swimming team moves up to third-place after three days of 2012 MIAA Championships

Comets win 200 medley relay and record two silver medal finishes

HOLLAND, Mich. – Behind three NCAA conditional qualifying cuts, the Olivet College men's swimming team has moved into third-place after three days of competition at the 2012 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships, hosted by Hope College and held inside the Holland Community Aquatic Center.

The Comets have totaled 420.5 points and is just 13.5 points ahead of fourth-place Calvin College. In front of Olivet is Kalamazoo College in first with 510.5 points and Hope with 481 points. Alma sits fifth with 173 points and Albion is sixth with 148 points.

The 200 medley relay team of junior Nick Edgar (Lansing/Everett), freshman Phil Barone, Jr. (Perrysburg, Ohio/St. Francis de Sales), senior Mike Harden (St. Johns) and sophomore Brian Fiorillo (Southgate/Anderson) stunned the field with a first-place finish, winning in an NCAA Championships conditional qualifying and school record time of 1:32.31. With the win, the Comets snap Kalamazoo's string of five consecutive wins in this relay at the MIAA championships. Olivet won the relay in 2006 before the Hornets won it each year from 2007-2011.

The Comets had four swimmers score points in the 100 backstroke, led by Edgar's second-place finish in 51.60 seconds. During the preliminaries, he recorded an NCAA Championships conditional qualifying time of 51.38 seconds. Freshman Brandon McShane (Southgate/Anderson) placed fifth in 53.88 seconds, followed by Harden in eighth and junior Joel Knight (Battle Creek/Lakeview) in 10th.

In the 100 breaststroke, Barone, Jr. tied for second-place with an NCAA Championships conditional qualifying time of 57.60 seconds. The time is also the second-best in school history. Senior Matt Marquette (Kalamazoo/Loy Norrix) was eighth in 59.02 seconds. Sophomores Nick Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) and Adam Rhein (Leonard/Romeo) went 1-2 in the consolation heat for an overall ninth (1:00.76) and 10th-place (1:01.11) finishes. Freshman Phil Bielak (Brownstown/Woodhaven) scored 16th-place points with a time of 1:02.20.

In the 400 IM, freshmen Georges Aoun (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/Unidad Educativa Colegio) and Alec Thurston (Kingsford) finished in third and fifth with times of 4:14.45 and 4:14.86, respectively. Sophomore Ben Aldrich (DeWitt/St. Johns) touched the wall first in the consolation heat for an overall 10th-place finish. His time was 4:17.57.

In the 100 butterfly, Knight placed fourth in 50.89 seconds to break his own school record by almost four-tenths of a second. Nick Aldrich, senior Zach Burgess (Dimondale/Holt) and sophomore Tyler Russell (Bay City/Central) finished 11-12-13 at 52.78, 52.98 and 53.51 seconds, respectively.

Senior Austin Munn (Pinckney) was sixth in the 200 freestyle in a season-best time of 1:43.72. Fiorillo placed 12th in 1:45.75, and freshman Jimmy DeRupa (Trenton) was right behind him in 15th in 1:48.79.

The championships conclude tomorrow with preliminaries, starting at 10 a.m., and finals at 5:30 p.m.