Ohio competed in its first event of the summer season this weekend in Indianapolis, and five Bobcats posted strong showings.
Assistant coach Anthony Harris, who traveled with the team, said the Indianapolis Grand Prix was a good starting point for the Bobcats as the team moves forward.
“It’s our first offseason meet, so it’s a good planting foot for us as we get in and definitely make some moves forward,” Harris said. “We know a couple of things that we need to change as far as building strength and moving forward toward Olympic trials and getting Olympic trial cuts.”
On Thursday, the five Bobcats participated in the 400-meter freestyle relay and finished in fourth place. None of the Bobcats made it past the preliminary round in Friday’s events, but sophomore Laurin Williams was close to moving on in the 400-meter individual medley.
On Saturday, the Bobcats concluded competition with finishes to grow on. Williams placed second in the third heat of the 800-meter freestyle.
The Bobcats also had some strong preliminary outings on Saturday. In the 100–meter breaststroke, three Bobcats completed in the preliminary round, with Tori Bagan finishing in 40th place, junior Katey Brookes finishing in 69th place, and sophomore Lauren Funk rounding out the competition with an 86th-place finish. Sophomore Rachel Stearns competed in the preliminary rounds of the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter individual medley. Stearns finished 48th in the backstroke and 59th in the medley.
Harris said the Indianapolis meet was especially important for the swimmers to get a sense of the competition.
“It was a really good meet for us,” he said. “It was a great opportunity to get to swim with that many world-class swimmers and opportunities like these don’t come very often, so to get in there and swim with them and mix it up with them was pretty exciting for the girls, and we’re happy with their results.”
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