Sports
Bobcats Look For Redemption In MAC Tournament
By: Abigail Carnivale
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After two and a half weeks of regrouping, the Ohio swimming and diving team will enter the waters for their final contest of the season on Feb. 27. This year, the Mid-American Conference tournament will take place at the SPIRE Institute, and Olympic training facility in Geneva, Ohio.
“It’s go time come first thing Thursday morning,” interim head coach Derick Roe said.
The Bobcats will compete for three days, with different events taking place on each day. After losing all three of their conference matchups after the winter break, Roe concluded that regrouping was necessary for success.
“We have had a couple meetings, a couple team bonding sessions that have really, really brought the team together,” Roe said. “Team spirit is at an all-time high, they’re swimming unbelievable well right now in practice, and I’m just really, really excited to see what they can do at the MAC meet.”
In many of their losses towards the end of their season, the Green and White fell behind in the final events, not being able to ride the momentum they developed in the earlier matchups. The key for the ‘Cats to translate their practice performance into competition is maintaining the confidence they’ve developed in practices.
“A lot of fast swimming at a championship meet is mental, just getting in that zone,” Roe said.
The Bobcat squad channels their school mascot in their mantra, “getting the claws out,” in an attempt to embody their school pride and to get the competitive juices flowing.
With three days of competition, “getting the claws out” might not always cut it, but the environment of a championship swim meet should be enough to keep the ladies engaged at all times.
“It’s so loud and, you know, the energy level is so high across the board, you can’t help but feed off of it,” Roe said.
The team left on Feb. 25 to accommodate a light practice schedule and acclimate themselves to the Olympic training facility they will be competing in.
The Bobcats visited the SPIRE Institute earlier this season for a matchup against Akron to begin the second leg of their MAC competition. Last time, the ‘Cats experienced three different health complications that kept team leaders like Rachel Stearns, Tori Bagan and Haleigh Bartlett out of the competition.
This time the Green and White will step on onto the blocks with the confidence that comes with a restored roster and weeks of tapering under their belts.
“Everyone is looking really, really sharp in the water and I’m excited to see what they can do,” Roe said.
The final competition of the 2013-14 season begins at 11 a.m., as the Bobcats look to redeem themselves against many MAC competitors.