The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams got off to a fast start with dominant performances against Findlay at home Oct. 12, but they have fallen to tough competition at each of their past three meets.

The Eagles have dropped several spots in the Endless Pools Top 25 Poll, with the men falling to ninth and the women to No. 17 nationally.

After defeating the Oilers 182-56, Ashland took to the road two weeks later for a meet with Wayne State and Bowling Green. The men, only competing against the Warriors, fell 160-134. The women lost to WSU 183-104 and fell to the Falcons 190-65.

The next day, Oct. 27, the Eagles traveled to Grand Valley State. The men lost that meet 132-109 and the women were beaten 134-103.

Saturday, Ashland went to Indianapolis to face the Greyhounds in another dual meet. Results for the men and women were similar once again, with the men losing 158-96 and the women falling 161-92.

The men finished first in four races and took second in seven.

Sergio Sanchis Peris, Tyler Remmel, Steve Moss and Braxton Wright started things off with a close second-place finish in the 200 yard medley relay, hitting the wall in 1:33.19, just a little over two seconds behind Indianapolis’s ‘A’ team.

In the 200 freestyle, Alex Sheil was second with a time of 1:42.61.

Eagles took first and second in the 50 free, Wright setting the pace in 21.07 and Moss hitting the wall right behind him in 21.38.

Wright also finished first in the 100 free with a time of 46.47.

Remmel won the 100 butterfly in 51.90 and took second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.64.

Sheil was second in the 500 freestyle, hitting the wall in 4:46.76, and Sanchis Peris also finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.54.

The top relay performance of the day came from the 200 freestyle team of Alex Mathews, Moss, Jacob Miller and Wright, who won with a time of 1:24.48.

The 400 freestyle team of Jonny Kleinhenz, Hueston Holder, Mathews and Sheil also had a solid swim, narrowly losing by two-hundredths of a second with a time of 3:07.79.

Ashland’s only diver, Colin MacDonald, took third in both the one and three meter events with 205.55 points in each.

The women started out fast, winning the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:48.13. That relay team included Sara Reidler, Beth Long, Rachel Ausdenmoore and Kaylyn Murphy.

After anchoring the relay, Murphy turned around and finished second in the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:55.40. She would also finish second in the 100 butterfly.

Hannah Mattar also finished second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:14.45.

In the 50 freestyle, defending 100 meter backstroke national champion Julie Widmann took first in 23.58.

Also winning their events were Reidler, who swam the 100 backstroke in 1:00.10, and Long, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.77.

Ashland also won another relay, with the 200 freestyle team of Reidler, Gabby Verdugo-Araluz, Ausdenmoore and Widmann racing to the wall in 1:37.75.

Both the men and women will host the Ashland University Invitational on Nov. 16 and 17. That event will be held in the Rec Center’s Mezzerly Natatorium. Friday’s events will start at 5 p.m. and the invitational will continue at 10 a.m. the next morning.

Featured in the invitational will be Wayne State and Malone.