One's a win, two's a trend and three's a streak. But eight victories in a row can only be described as being on a roll.
Since last losing to Toledo in early November, the Bobcats can certainly be characterized as being in the groove, and they ran their lengthy winning streak to eight Saturday with a 151-149 win over Eastern Michigan (5-6, 3-4 MAC) on senior day at the Aquatics Center.
The early going belonged to the Bobcats, as they jumped out to an early 73-58 lead after seven races thanks to individual victories from junior Rachel Heim (200 yard free), senior Allison Schaefer (100 breast), and sophomore Annie Donovan (50 free).
Eastern Michigan fought back in the middle portion of the meet, placing first in five straight events to take a 127-118 lead after 12 events. The lead could have been even larger, but Ohio was able to pick up points with second and third place finishes to keep the Eagles within sight.
And as they've done most of the season, the Bobcats (10-2, 5-2 MAC) finished with a bang, winning three of the last four events to lay claim to a dramatic but decisive two-point victory.
What we needed was a challenge all the way through
coach Greg Werner said. They were down big with four events to go and they stood up and pulled it off and that's one thing you can never get enough of.
Freshman Mary Rose Hillstrom's first place finish in the 3-meter dive was perhaps the most vital and surprising part of the Bobcats comeback, as Eastern Michigan's divers had dominated the 1-meter earlier in the meet.
Diving's a lot different than swimming...it's one at a time
so there's a lot of pressure in that
Werner said. Knowing that they didn't have the outcome (in the 1 meter)
she showed a lot of character and a lot of pride.
On the swimming side, Heim was again the standout for the Bobcats. The two-time defending MAC swimmer of the week won all three of her individual events and also swam the butterfly leg for the victorious 200 medley relay team.
I'm just in awe of her
said Werner. We keep going to her and she keeps coming through.
The Bobcats now have a two-week layoff until the MAC Championships begins Feb. 24 at Miami's Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center. They will continue practicing nine times a week, but Werner said the intensity and length will lessen.
The work is done
he said. Now it's just the fine tuning and making sure we get our rest.
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