Grizzlies nab 12th straight swim title

Oakland University’s swimming and diving team dominated at The Summit League Championships in Indianapolis as each team captured its 12th straight conference title Feb. 19.

The Golden Grizzly women took first place with 1,060 points with 17 event wins. The team’s 15 All-Summit League performers set five school records and seven Summit League Championships records.

The Oakland men tallied 998 points to win their meet.  They had 18 event wins and set four school records and two conference records. The men also had 15 swimmers named to the All-Summit League team.

Sandra Czerska captured the women’s Swimming Championships MVP with seven wins, two school records and two conference records.  Marcin Unold won the men’s MVP for the second time in his career, accumulating seven wins.

All nine conference records established at this year’s meet were set by the Grizzlies.

The Grizzly men are off until Sunday when they compete in the Ohio State Last Ditch Men’s NCAA Qualifier in Columbus.  The women’s squad returns to the pool March 11-12 with the men’s team at the NCAA Diving Zones in Athens, Ga.

Grizzlies basketball routs Southern Utah

Behind 16 points and 10 rebounds from forward Will Hudson and 13 points and 11 rebounds from center Keith Benson, Oakland University (22-9, 17-1 Summit League) defeated Southern Utah University (11-18, 7-11), 82-68, Saturday in Cedar City, Utah, to close the regular season.

With four blocks, Benson set a school-record for blocks in a season with 119, breaking the record his own record of 117 set last year.

Guards Larry Wright and Ledrick Eackles had 10 points each, while forward Drew Valentine had seven points and 12 rebounds.

The Grizzlies, the regular season Summit League champions, are 34-2 in the last two seasons during conference play, the best in-conference mark of any Division I team during the same stretch.

Oakland and Southern Utah will play again Saturday at 7 p.m. EST in the quarterfinals of The Summit League Championship in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Indoor track season ends

Oakland’s indoor track and field season ended Monday with solid performances at The Summit League Championship in Fargo, N.D.

The Golden Grizzly women finished fifth with 43 points, while the men took sixth with 37 points.  North Dakota State won both competitions with 247 points for the women and 208 for the men.

Three new women’s school records and one men’s record were set during the meet.  Oakland had a total of five All-Summit League performances.

The distance medley team of Autumn Cleverley, Desiree Pettiford, Megan Enzor and Erica D’Angelo put in the best Grizzlies women’s performance, finishing second in 12:07.74.  The top men’s performances were from Kevin Luce, who was third in the 60 meter hurdles (8.27), and Zack Jones who finished third in the 5,000 meter run (15:03.73).

Oakland basketball pulls through

Senior forward Anna Patritto capped a 12-point night with two clutch free throws as Oakland (18-10, 12-6 Summit League) defeated UMKC (14-15, 9-9), 63-61, Monday in Kansas City, Mo.

Sophomore forward Bethany Watterworth had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Golden Grizzly offense, while Patritto went a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range.

Freshman guard Zakiya Minifee recorded eight rebounds and four steals, while junior guard Sharise Calhoun chipped in 13 points, five assists, three steals and five rebounds for the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies’ quarterfinal game in the Summit League Tournament is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. EST against Southern Utah.