Men's swimming and diving team defeats Alma, 115-76

The Olivet College men's swimming and diving team cruised to a 115-76 victory over Alma College this afternoon at the Upton Center Pool in Olivet.

Olivet got the meet started by taking the first two spots in the 200-yard medley relay. The first-place team of Kellen Beckwith (Farmington Hills/North Farmington), Zach McMunigal (Grand Blanc/Flint Powers Catholic), Sam Jaffee (Bowling Green, Ohio) and Ryan Key (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy Prep) clocked-in at 1:42.02.

Jason Wheatley (Portage/Central) kept the winning going with a first-place time of 10:16.59 in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Nathaniel Burchfield (Lansing/Everett) placed second in 11:21.51. Rick Kinsey (Chelsea) led a 1-2-3 Comet finish in the 200-yard freestyle. His time was 1:50.77. Jaffee edged Koji Takahashi (Etobicoke, Ontario/Silverthorn) by .03 seconds, 1:54.36 to 1:54.39.

Brad Voss (Lansing/Holt) won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.75 seconds, followed closely by Key in 22.90 seconds. Nathan Busscher (Hamilton/Holland Christian) finished first in the 200-yard individual medley, 2:02.06, while Dustin Meisner (Temperance/Erie-Mason) was second, 2:06.26. Andrew Wasson (Grand Ledge) placed second in the one-meter diving competition with 226.20 points.

The 100-yard butterfly saw Busscher finish second in 56.56 seconds. Mitch Powers (Kalamazoo/Central) helped Olivet take the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 49.56 seconds. Meisner was next in 51.54 seconds, followed by McMunigal in 53.14 seconds. In the 200-yard backstroke, Beckwith finished first and broke the pool record by more than two seconds with a time of 2:00.46.

The Comets elected to have their times/scores count as exhibition in the final four events. In the 500-yard freestyle, Kinsey had a time of 5:02.48, followed by Jaffee in 5:06.51. Wasson scored 225 points on the three-meter diving board. Busscher clocked-in at 1:04.77 in the 100-yard breaststroke. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Olivet's A relay team of Takahashi, Wheatley, Meisner and Key finished in 1:31.51.

The Comets are back in action next Saturday, Jan. 26, when they travel to compete against Albion College at 1 p.m.