The Golden Grizzlies (0-2) fell short in a tri-meet Saturday at the OU Aquatic Center, losing to No. 7 Michigan, 185-105 and to Notre Dame, 166-132. The Wolverines (2-0) defeated the Fighting Irish (2-1), 172-120 to win the meet.

“We knew what we were getting in to,” Oakland coach Pete Hovland said. “(Those schools) have a lot of history in both swimming and diving.”

Sophomore Nick Evans, swimming in his first dual meet for Oakland after transferring from the University of Maryland, made waves by winning the 500 freestyle at 4:35.00. Evans, a native of Rochester Hills, also finished third in the 200 freestyle (1:40.87) and fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with Jordan Moses, Zach Johnson and Amr el Sayed (3:11.04).

“Today’s meet was a step forward,” Evans said.  “I felt good enough to win the 200 free, but I got touched out. The 500 felt great the whole time. I beat my personal best performance for that event in a dual meet.

“I was surprised at first,” Evans added, talking about the 500 freestyle. “I didn’t see (Michigan’s Connor Jaeger, who finished ahead of Evans) in Lane 1, but when I realized he was in an exhibition, I was like, ‘Wow! I beat everybody from Michigan and Notre Dame!'”

Senior Marcin Unold, competing in his first meet for the Grizzlies in more than a year after redshirting last season, returned by winning the 100 backstroke (50.45). Unold also took second in the 100 freestyle (46.21) and the 200 medley relay with Scott Yarbrough, Alex Aceino and Grant Harding (1:31.75). He also took third in the 400 freestyle relay with Harding, Matyas Keresztes and Aceino (3:03.91).

Aceino took another runner-up finish in the 100 butterfly (50.01), while Yarbrough finished second in the 100 breaststroke (57.63).

El Sayed finished fourth in the 1,000 freestyle with the second fastest time in school history (9:26.28).

Other top individual swimming efforts for Oakland came from Joe Rogers, going third in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.06), Tobias Hansen fourth in the 200 individual medley (1:53.97), Harding fourth in the 200 backstroke (1:53.41), Keresztes fourth in the 50 freestyle (21.47) and Aceino fifth in the 200 butterfly (1:52.67).

Diving proved to be the Achilles heel for the Grizzlies and prevented them from ever getting close to the Wolverines and Irish. Oakland had just one diver because Jordan Zendejas missed the meet with a stress fracture in his leg. Antonio Page-Kahn made the most of his efforts, finishing seventh in the 1-meter (224.35) and the 3-meter (229.30).

“It is what it is,” Hovland said.  “When you have very young divers and our best is injured, this is what happens. (Michigan and Notre Dame) are both great and I don’t know if it would have changed anything.”

The Grizzlies will look to earn their first win of the season when they combine with the women’s team Saturday for a meet with Wayne State University.