The distance between Ohio University and Ohio State University amounts to exactly 81.9 miles, but in the swimming meet, the universities were farther apart.
The Bobcats fell 112-182 to the Buckeyes in a dual meet, which never was a close competition. The only time the Bobcats were tied with the Big Ten school was before the first event started.
After the Buckeyes suffered a loss at No. 8 Tennessee the night before coming to Athens, they didn’t show any signs of exhaustion as the relays placed first and second in the opening 400-yard medley relay while the Bobcats finished in third place and put the ’Cats behind 2-15.
From that point on, the Buckeyes demonstrated why they received votes in the latest NCAA poll, winning 13 out of 16 events.
Junior captain Laurin Williams and sophomore diver Haleigh Bartlett achieved Ohio’s only wins in the dual meet.
Williams won the 500-yard freestyle and the 1000-yard freestyle in a time of 5:02.01 and 10:22.90, respectively.
“She is an exceptional performer,” Ohio coach Greg Werner said about the team’s captain.
Williams returned after being out for health reasons in the dual meet against Eastern Michigan, in which the Bobcats weren’t able to place any distance swimmers in the top three.
“I really wanted to swim last meet,” Williams said. “I am glad to be back in the pool.”
Bartlett was able to show a strong performance in the one-meter diving competition by placing first, after placing fifth in the three-meter diving competition.
“I like the one meter better than the three meter diving,” Bartlett said. “I have more experience in it.”
With redshirt junior Mary Hillstrom placing second, the Bobcats were able to outscore the Buckeyes in the one-meter diving competition.
Ohio’s win wasn’t achieved easily. The Buckeyes brought two former state champions and one current Big Ten champion in the 10-meter dive.
“I am very proud of our divers,” Werner said. “If you can win against Ohio State, it is huge for the program. We are definitely on the rise.”
Despite the clear loss, Werner was pleased with the overall appearance of his team.
“I tend to look more at the positive than the negative side of it,” Werner said.
Werner pointed out that his team performed very well, considering that the swimmers had two very difficult practice weeks behind them.
“We are continuously trying to improve,” Werner said, “and this is the direction we want to go. The last two weeks were only a taste of what lies ahead of us."
Moreover Werner saw improvement in the focus and enthusiasm the team had throughout the competition. According to Werner, both of these attitudes were missing against Eastern Michigan two weeks ago.
“They didn’t back away from the challenge and in no point of the meet they didn’t back down,” Werner said. “The mentality decides a competition. It may have not made a difference today, but there will be meets in the future, where it will make a difference.”
With the loss against the Buckeyes, the Bobcats move to a season record of 0-2, their worst start since 2009. But Werner is not too concerned about this fact, considering the team already has a spot in the Mid-American Conference championships.
“I’d rather be 0-2 and peak the championships than be 2-0 and not peak at the championships,” Werner said.
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