COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tenth-ranked Ohio State took first place at the eighth annual Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational, topping second-ranked Florida, 12th-ranked Virginia, Kentucky and Purdue. The Buckeyes finished with 1,137 points, just 46.5 points ahead of Florida (1,090 points).
Ohio State’s performance on the final day was highlighted by junior Connor McDonald, who finished first in the 200-meter backstroke with a school-record time of 1 minute, 40.83 seconds. It is also an NCAA “A” qualifying time mark. The previous record was 1:41.22, set in 2012 by Andrew Elliott.
The finals session kicked off with the 1,650-yard freestyle where Alex Miller placed fifth with a time of 15:10.55. Rowan Williams, a junior, placed eighth (15:18.17).
In addition to McDonald’s performance in the 200 backstroke, Steven Zimmerman had a third-place showing in the event, finishing in 1:42.66.
The Buckeyes followed up the 200 backstroke with a 2-4 showing in the 100 freestyle, led by Josh Fleagle (second, 43.59), Michael DiSalle (third, 43.61) and Vladislav Komarov (fourth, 43.67). Steffen Hillmer rounded out the top Ohio State finishers when he touched the wall in sixth place (44.45).
Chris Cowley was Ohio State’s top finisher in the next event, the 200 breaststroke, clocking a time of 1:58.46 to take fifth place. Teammate DJ MacDonald was sixth (1:58.51), Dmitry Dolgov was seventh (1:58.58) and Dak Stone was eighth (1:58.91).
In the 200 butterfly, Tamas Gercsak placed third (1:45.24) and Ryan Bubb was fifth (1:47.11).
The finals wrapped up with the 400 free relay where the team of Fleagle, Hillmer, Komarov and DiSalle finished in second place with a time of 2:53.85.
In platform diving, Christian Holstein (286.65) was eighth and Stephen Ettienne (285.15) was ninth.
