Sports
Swimming and Diving: Ohio Starts Strong In Patriot Invitational
By: Owen Gramoy
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The Ohio women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team took first place at the Patriot Invitational Thursday night at George Mason University. The team of Tori Bagan, Haley Clark, Lauren Funk and Katey Brooks touched the wall first with a time of 1:35.27, edging out UNCW by 0:00.40.
The 400-yard medley relay team also took first place in their respective event, finishing in 3:50.81 for the victory. Anastasia Bocharnikova, Addy Ferguson, Bagan and Brooks picked up 40 points for Bobcats in their dominating opening day.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Bocharnikova took second place for the Bobcats, as she finished in 2:04.94, picking up 17 more points for the women. Rachel Stearns also placed in the 200-yard IM, adding 12 points to the team’s total. Her time of 2:07.77 was good for a seventh place finish.
All four swimmers from the women’s first place 200-yard freestyle team cracked the top 16 in the 50-yard freestyle, led by Funk’s time of 23.32, which was good for second place. Brooks followed in a modest fourth, Clark ninth and Bagan rounding it out in 14th place.
The women currently have 317 points, as George Mason checks in as the closest competitor with only 162. The Patriot Invitational is a three day event with a total of 10 teams so the women have a long way to go, but after their first day of action they have positioned themselves to claim the title.
Other teams competing are Seton Hall, UMBC, American, Richmond, George Washington, UNC-Wilmington, Shippensburg and Howard. Prelims begin Friday at 10 a.m.