The Oakland University men and women’s swimming and diving teams came up just short against Eastern Michigan University and Bowling Green State University this past Saturday.

At the Oakland Aquatic Center, the men’s swim and dive team lost a thrilling meet against EMU that came down to the final race. After well over three hours of swimming, the two schools were tied and the final 400-yard freestyle relay race would decide the winner.

EMU ended up squeaking by with a time of 3:03.16, just ahead of OU’s time of 3:03.71. The .55 second difference gave EMU enough to secure the victory, 153.5-144.5.

The OU women’s swim and dive team also found themselves in a close meet against both the EMU Eagles and the BGSU Falcons. Despite trailing at both of the first two intermissions, the Golden Grizzlies were able to pull out a tie against the Eagles. 149-149. OU was never able to catch BGSU, however, as they ended up losing 155-139.

Despite the two loses and the one tie, OU head coach Pete Hovland said that he was proud of his team of how they kept grinding throughout the afternoon. In front of a very energetic crowd, Hovland thinks that his team did great against two schools who also have very good swimming programs.

“They have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “This was a great collegiate meet and this was college athletics at its best. We came up short but it was not because of lack of effort, we swam about as well as we could at this point and time of the year.”

Hovland added that a meet like this will make the team more battle-tested and mentally prepared when it comes time for the conference championship.

Individually, both OU men and women’s swim teams had some stand outs. Aleksander Danielweski won the 100 and 200-yard backstroke races, along with the 200-yard IM. On the women’s side, Tricia Grant won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events to keep her undefeated streak alive, and Patricia Aschan won the 1000-yard freestyle race.

The team will not have another meet until the Dec. 5 Eastern Michigan Invitational in Ypsilanti. Coach Hovland said that he will use the slight gap between meets to refocus the team and get back to some serious training.

More information such as schedules, past meet results, and individual statistics on both the OU men and women swim teams can be found at goldengrizzlies.com.