Sports
Swimming/Diving: Bobcats Fall To Miami In Final Dual Meet
By: Sara Nealeigh
Posted on:
The Bobcats lost their second meet of the season, this time to rival Miami (OH), by a score of 160-140. Ohio had not lost in a dual meet since falling to nationally ranked Ohio State in November.
Ohio lost crucial team points early in the day after finishing second to Miami in the 200-yard Medley Relay. The team of Rachel Stearns, Tori Bagan, Amanda Cecere, and Annie Donovan finished with a time of 1:44.19, just under two seconds behind the winning Miami team.
From there, the Bobcat swimmers fought on to claim first place in six other races during the day, but weren’t able to take home a team win.
In a day of close races, first place finishers for Ohio included Laurin Williams in the 1,000- and 500-yard Freestyle, and Emma Michaels in the 200-yard Freestyle. Tori Bagan squeezed into first in the 100-yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.99, finishing ahead by under one-half second. Rachel Sterns battled it out with Leah Thorton of Miami several times throughout the meet. Thorton was just under one second behind Sterns in both the 200-yard Backstroke and the 200-yard Individual Medley, while Thorton beat Stearns in the 100-yard Backstroke by just over one-half second.
“They just happened to compete in similar events… We saw that last year at the championships in Athens,” Ohio head coach Greg Werner said of the Thorton and Sterns match-up.
In diving, freshmen divers Morgan Srail and Haleigh Bartlett both took home third place finishes. Srail earned a score of 310.06 on the three-meter dive to receive third behind two Miami divers. Bartlett earned a 279.0 for third on the one-meter board, again trailing two Miami divers.
Amanda Cecere came in second with a time of 2:04.15 in the 200-yard Butterfly, and Petra Chomicz took second in the 200 yard Breaststroke with a 2:22.48 finish, followed closely by Megan Davis, who claimed third.
Werner said the team is in its final preparation for the MAC Championships later this month, getting the small, individual details taken care of.
The Bobcats will go into the MAC Championships in Akron Feb. 23-25 with a season dual-meet record of 9-2.