They may be unbeatable at home, but it's been sink or swim for the Bobcats outside of Athens this season.
Ohio is 5-0 at home but just 2-2 on the road in dual meets, with both losses coming against Mid-American Conference foes Bowling Green and Toledo in November.
The two wins have come against relatively weak competition, Kenyon University and Youngstown State, neither of which had the firepower to put Ohio under pressure in an unfriendly environment.
Tomorrow's meet against Ball State in Muncie, Ind., will be Ohio's last chance to get a road victory against MAC competition before next month's championships are held in Oxford, Ohio.
The importance of swimming well against Ball State as well as the Atlantic 10's Xavier in Cincinnati tonight is not lost on coach Greg Werner.
It's a road trip
and the championships are on the road so we have to accept those challenges that come with being on the road and not in our home pool Werner said.
They are back-to-back meets and the championships are three and half days
so we want to get stronger and be better on Saturday than on Friday
he said.
The Bobcats will also have to contend with a possible letdown after last week's victory over Miami, which Werner called easily their most complete performance of the season.
While Xavier and Ball State don't conjure up the same feelings or possess the same level of talent the RedHawks do, Ohio's mind-set must be unchanged in order to win.
It would be natural for us to have (a letdown) because they're not our rivals
said Werner. But both places we're going are unique
hostile environments where we're going to be uncomfortable
and we have to overcome that challenge.
HEIM WINS WEEKLY AWARD
Rachel Heim was named the MAC Swimmer of the Week Tuesday for her swims in Ohio's victories over Marshall and Miami last week. Heim won all six events she competed in across both meets, including a career best of 2:07.05 in the 200 IM against Miami to clinch an Ohio victory.
It is the third time she has won the award this season.
It's not so much what she does in the pool
which obviously is a lot
but also what she does out of it
Werner said.
She's an extremely hardworking and focused individual
