Basking in national honors

By Web Master|April 1, 2008

By Brittany Ochtinsky

Senior Reporter

Oakland University swimmer Marcin Unold already appears to be unstoppable.



After helping the Golden Grizzlies capture a ninth-straight Summit League title in February, where he was named the Summit League Swimmer of the Year,Unold completed a successful run at the NCAA Division I Swimming championship last weekend.



His Summit League championship times in the 200 backstroke (1:43.57) and 100 backstroke (46.77) automatically qualified him for the NCAA championship, held in Federal Way, Wash., for a second-straight season.



Unold fell just shy of competing in the final for the 100 backstroke — he was edged out by .018 of a second for the final spot — but finished first in the consolation heat. 



He clocked in at 46.55, breaking his own school record and earning him All-American honorable mention.



He then placed fifth in the final 200 backstroke, setting a new school record, earning All-American honors. With a total of 23 points accumulated at the championship, he became the highest individual scorer in Oakland history.



“Marcin has grown a lot, both physically and emotionally, in the time he has been at OU,” swim coach Pete Hovland said. “He has a better understanding of what college and NCAA swimming is all about.



“I anticipate the improvement to continue but probably not at the same pace. By his performances this past weekend, he’s shown he belongs right up there with the best of the best.”



Next up on Unold’s agenda is qualifying for a spot on Poland&

#039;s Olympic

team. He will swim in the Polish nationals in Ostrowec Thursday, April 3 through Sunday, April 6 and must place in the top two in his events (100 and 200 backstroke and 100 and 200 freestyle) and make slight improvements over his current times to qualify.



If Unold, a native of Gliwice, Poland, does qualify, he would join OU swimmers Hilton Woods (Netherland Antilles), Haithem Hassan (Egypt) and Scott Dickens (Canada) who have all represented their countries in the Olympics. 



Woods competed in Seoul, Korea in 1988, Hassam in Sydney in 1988, Australia in 2000 and Dickens most recently in 2004 in Athens, Greece.