Ohio defeated Buffalo Saturday to win its third meet in a row.
The Bobcats took nine of 16 events win 163.5-131.5. Ohio started out strong, winning five out of the six events and jumped out to an 80-32 lead.
Ohio also swept the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. But Buffalo charged right back and traded events with Ohio, and the Bulls won the last two. The late effort was not enough to win the meet.
“I think that Buffalo pulled out a really good meet, and we were expecting that from them and they did really well,” sophomore Rachel Stearns said. “We were at home, and we know how to race at home.”
Stearns, who was named Mid-American Conference Swimmer of the Week last week, won the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. She was also a part of the team that won the 400-meter medley relay.
Freshman Tori Bagan entered the school record book again when she set the sixth-best time in program history for the 100-yard breaststroke and the 10th-best time for the 200-yard breaststroke.
Buffalo sophomore Britney Kuras had a big day for the Bulls. She won the 100- and 200-yard freestyle as well as the 200-yard individual medley. She was also a part of the 200-yard freestyle relay winning team for the Bulls.
The Bobcats expected Kuras to bring her “A” game.
“She’s a talent and she’s been doing that all year long, so we didn’t expect anything different today out of her,” coach Greg Werner said. Werner said the Bobcats looked tired at the meet from the travel last week and said there was room for improvement.
“I think in some cases our pacing was a little bit off. Maybe we were a little too guarded early in the race instead of getting a little more aggressive earlier in the race,” Werner said. “That’s just going to come with experience. It’s the third competition of the year.”
Despite his team being tired, Werner said he was pleased with Ohio’s effort.
The Bobcats will travel to Columbus Saturday to take on Ohio State.
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