They’ve been winning consecutive titles for longer than you’ve been alive. They compete year after year, always finishing on top. They are perhaps the most dominant sports dynasty ever. They are inevitable.
They are Oakland University (OU) swim and dive.
Superlatives and hyperbolic statements aside, the swim and dive team here at Oakland is dominant. The men’s team won their 46th consecutive conference championship last year, while the women won their 30th consecutive title. This level of accomplishment is virtually unknown in the sporting world.
To kick off their 2024-25 season, the Golden Grizzlies hosted the Wayne State University (WSU) Warriors on Sept. 12. Let’s dive in and see how the meet went.
Women’s Events
The evening began with absolute domination by Oakland in the 200 medley relay, where the women’s A, B and C teams took the top three spots. The A-team featured swimmers freshman Grace Albrecht for the backstroke, junior Bella Gary for the breaststroke, graduate student Rhianna Hensler for the fly and senior Jordyn Shipps for the freestyle. Gary and Shipps both earned preseason all-conference first-team honors from the Horizon League.
Next came the 200 free swim, which the OU women again won in convincing fashion, led by junior Erika Pietras and junior Mia Englender in second.
For the 50-yard swims, the meet was done in a shootout style where the top four swimmers from each team competed in the first eight, then the fastest two from each time, finishing with the fastest swimmer from each team. The Golden Grizzlies took three of the four events. The 50 fly was dominated by Shipps, who won each heat in comfortable fashion. In the 50 backstroke, standout freshman Albrecht crushed the competition, winning every heat by more than two seconds. Keep an eye out for her races as the season progresses.
Freshman Delaney Parker from Wayne State won the 50 breast, finishing just ahead of OU’s Gary and freshman Maya Dobry. Finally, in the 50 free, fifth-year senior Mia Keranen won all three heats, followed closely by another fifth-year, Ronja Riihinen.
In the 100-individual medley, Golden Grizzly freshman Kate Teng took first, with senior Sam Thiessen taking second. The men and women teamed up for the mixed 500 free relay, as Pietras, senior Englender, senior Jonas Cantrell and junior Micah Scheffer finished first overall.
Once the scores were all tallied, the Oakland women were victorious again with an overwhelming score of 45-16.
Men’s Events
Oakland’s men’s team had no problem handling the Warriors, either. However, Trevor Jones from Wayne State won the 200 free, with Cantrell coming in second.
A shootout-style competition was again used for the 50-yard races. In the 50 fly, Golden Grizzly freshman Archer Jankoviak overtook fifth-year senior Colin Martin, who won the event’s first heat. The first heat of the 50 backstroke was won by a freshman from Wayne State, Gabriel Arias, with four Oakland swimmers following him. However, junior Harry Nicholson from OU took first in the next two heats of the race.
The same pattern followed in the 50 breast. Joey Dombkowski from WSU won the first heat, followed by three Golden Grizzlies. Yet, again, in the next heat, OU junior Christopher Palvadre won the next two.
Finally, in the 50 free, the black and gold took the top three spots, led by Scheffer, who held his place at first in all three races. Teammate and fellow junior Charles Brown almost beat him in the final heat, coming up 0.02 seconds behind Scheffer.
Coming again to the 100-individual medley, graduate student Jack Wike would lead the way for the Golden Grizzlies, with senior Dane Charleston and sophomore Max Haney coming in second and third.
Finally, in the 200 medley relay, Oakland’s A-team won over Wayne State’s A-team by 2 seconds. Nicholson, Palvadre, Scheffer and Brown formed the leading team.
A resounding 42-19 win for the men put an exclamation point on the day for the program.
Takeaways
This is a very deep team, with lots of all-league talent returning along with some serious skill in the new first-year students. With Teng, Albrecht and Jankoviak all having strong swims, second-year coach Mitch Alters will have a lot of flexibility in his decisions for races. The top-end talent is still just as incredible as it was last year, as Shipps, Wike and Scheffer will all continue their excellent careers. Oakland is well on their way to more conference titles.