The Bobcats finally proved they could win a big meet away from the friendly confines of the Aquatics Center. In fact, they won two.
For the first time all season, Ohio (9-2, 4-2 Mid-American Conference) managed to come back from a road trip victorious. In early November, the Bobcats fell to both Toledo and Bowling Green on a
weekend trip.
Since those two losses, they have yet to drop a meet at home or away.
Friday afternoon, the Bobcats traveled to Cincinnati to face the Xavier Musketeers. Ohio won 152-106, with strong performances across the board.
Then it was on to Muncie, Ind. on Saturday, where the result was a 156-144 win.
Ohio was led by strong performances, with notable contributions from Kristen Witham, Rachel Heim and Chelsey Bower.
Heim won three individual events and was a member of two winning relay teams. Bower and Witham claimed four victories over the two meets, respectively.
The Bobcats also left Xavier with a mark in the home school's record books.
Stacey Huber and Amanda Traylor each broke the Ohio pool record in the 1000-yard freestyle this weekend. Huber set the first mark on Friday (10:19.68) and then Traylor answered with her season-best time of 10:12.91 just minutes later.
Traylor re-broke the pool record and earned the Bobcats nine points on the team score sheet. Her performance helped increase the team's lead and her time broke her season best mark by nearly 30 seconds.
Halfway through the meet with Ball State, the Bobcats found themselves 20 points down. Coach Greg Werner saw it fit to address some issues at that point.
At the halfway point
we had a little talk with the girls Werner said. We challenged them to stay together to fight through the rough patches and stay the course. They came through for us.
In addition to being the first road wins of the year, Saturday's win was also the seventh consecutive dual-meet victory for the squad.
Being able to come off the bus last night and win right away was huge
Werner said.
Championships are on the road and if we can't win away from Athens
we can't win a championship.
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Sports
Noah Meyers
