By Tim Glon

Ohio Northern's 200 medley relay team of seniors Drew Keriazes and Marc Anderson and juniors Jordan Breitigam and Christian Garlock finished 11th in the prelims and advanced to the consolation finals on the first day of the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships Wednesday afternoon at the Conroe Natatorium.

The group finished third in their heat and were 11th of 23 teams in 1:31.70.

The top eight in each event earn All-America honors with finishers 9-16 earning Honorable Mention All-America kudos, meaning the Polar Bears will just have to complete the race to earn Honorable Mention honors.

The finals will begin at 6 pm (CDT) Wednesday night and ONU will swim in the last event.

"We are happy with our time this afternoon," Anderson said. " The goal now is to finish the race cleanly and win our heat tonight."

Northern missed getting into the finals by just .64 of a second.

Keriazes and Breitigam also competed in the 200 I.M. Wednesday morning.

Breitigam finished 32nd out of 52 competitors in 1:53.04, while Keriazes finished 49th in 1:56.83.

Breitigam entered the 200 I.M. as the 12th-fastest qualifier with a school record time of 1:51.20, while Keriazes was seeded 36th in 1:53.50.

The 200 medley relay team was seeded tied for 12th with a school-record qualifying time of 1:31.05.