After the first day of the Mid-American Conference Championships, the Bobcats sit in a three-way tie for second place.
Ohio finished second in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of Ashley Marion, Amanda Traylor, Sarah Owen and Rachel Heim finished less than .3 seconds behind rival Miami.
In the other event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay, Ohio's team of Heim, Carine Viera de Souza, Allison Schaefer and Chelsey Bower touched the wall fourth. Buffalo, Miami and Toledo rounded out the top three.
We were really good today
coach Greg Werner said.
Heim swam in both events despite the two contests being only 30 minutes apart. She swam lifetime-best splits in both races.
She did exceptionally well Werner said. She is a tough girl. She has been swimming tough splits for us all year.
She handles it really well.
Miami sits atop the standing after this first day.
The RedHawks have a 10-point cushion over the competition and they are the favorite to win the tournament.
I love to have (Miami) behind us, Werner said. But they have 70 or so points out of 700 it will take to win, so there is a lot of swimming left.
Ohio is knotted with Buffalo and Toledo in second. Eastern Michigan
Bowling Green
Akron and Ball State round out the standings.
On the day
Ohio swimmers set three school records.
The Bobcats broke the record in the 200-yard relay by two-and-a-half seconds. In the 800-yard relay
they broke the record by nine seconds.
The other school record came in the first leg of the 800-yard relay. The first 200-yard leg counts towards teams' scores. Ashley Marion edged the 10-year record by three tenths of a second.
When you set three school records, Werner said
obviously you are performing very well.
Despite sitting in second place
Werner is happy with the team's position.
You obviously want to be in first, Werner said. The girls are very competitive, but you have to put things in perspective. We were very good today.
The team has experience with the situation it's in. Last year
the Bobcats were in third after one day even after setting records in both events.
They have to realize that they did well, but so did the conference, Werner said. You have to earn it, and that makes winning that much better because you have to earn it.
Werner and the team are looking forward to tomorrow.
We have a good day tomorrow, Werner said. We have a lot of strong events. I'm pretty excited to have a good championship.
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Ohio is in third place in the Mid-American Conference Championships.,After the first day of the Mid-American Conference Championships
