Photo Gallery
Thursday Results
JENISON, Mich. – Albion College athletes continued to ride the momentum as the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Swimming & Diving Championships continued Thursday.
The men's team enjoyed one of its most successful days at the meet in recent memory as Brian Fiorillo won the league title in the 50-yard freestyle with a school-record time of 20.11 seconds that automatically sends him to the NCAA Division III Championships and Brad Melpolder was the first to the wall in the 500-yard freestyle with a NCAA B-cut qualifying time of 4:36.80.
Fiorillo and Melpolder swam the first and fourth legs as Albion finished second to Kalamazoo College in the 200 freestyle relay. The Briton team, which included Austin Bateman and Garret Bosworth, completed the race in 1:23.70.
Josh Boren also swam in a championship final. He took fourth place in the 200 individual medley. His time of 1:57.02 was just a hundredth of a second behind the third-place athlete from Calvin College.
Albion is third in the men's team standings with 199 points. The Britons trail second-place Calvin by 20 points.
Led by school-record performances by Anna Hargrove and Julie Okorn, the women's team is battling Alma College for fourth place. The Britons trail the Scots by 14 points. Hargrove was the runner-up in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.05, while Okorn turned in a third-place time of 5:06.11 in the 500 freestyle.
"For the most part, we're off to a really nice start," Albion Coach Jake Taber said. "We've put three good sessions together."
In consolation races Thursday night, Garret Bosworth was 10th and Landon Lefler 15th in the men's 200 IM, Laura Steavenson finished 13th in the women's 500 freestyle, Mackenzie Chesley was 14th in the women's 200 IM, Brittany Boggs was 15th in the women's 50 freestyle, Blake Blair was 15th in the men's 500 freestyle.
In diving, Paul Lewis and Phil Bommarito advanced to the finals in men's 1-meter. Lewis scored fourth place while Bommarito was seventh. Lauren Rao placed seventh in the women's 3-meter event.
Men's Team Scores (through seven events): 1. Kalamazoo 299. 2. Calvin 219. 3. Albion 199. 4. Hope 192. 5. Olivet 137. 6. Alma 96.
Women's Team Scores (through seven events): 1. Calvin 283.5. 2. Hope 272. 3. Kalamazoo 192.5. 4. Alma 162. 5. Albion 148. 6. Saint Mary's 101. 7. Olivet 99.
