When U2’s “Beautiful Day” sounded through the Aquatic Center after Saturday’s meet against Toledo, Ohio coach Greg Werner walked up and down the pool deck with a smile on his face. He couldn’t have picked a better song — it was a perfect day.
At 3:12 on Saturday afternoon Ohio had taken out current Mid-American Conference champion Toledo with an unexpected score of 170-130 to win its fifth straight dual meet and to stay undefeated in 2013.
A little bit more than two hours before, the odds weren’t in Ohio’s favor. The Bobcats lost by more than 400 points to the Rockets in the Zippy Invitational in December, were ranked less favorably in 12 out of 18 events and had finished their last meet just 18 hours prior to taking on Toledo.
“We talked to the team before the meet, that we needed to be the team that set the tone,” Werner said. “We needed to be the team that always battled through.”
The battle started for Ohio in event one, when Rachel Stearns, Tori Bagan, Addy Ferguson and Lauren Funk won the 200-yard Medley in a time of 1:44.91 minutes. It wasn’t until Funk’s last few strokes when Ohio finally pulled away, winning the event by just four hundredths of a second — less than half of an arm length.
The close swims continued. In the 1,000-yard freestyle, which was won by Laurin Williams in a season-best time of 10:12.99 minutes, freshman Bianca Hauzer outswam Rachel Johnson and Mary Dombkowski in the last 50 yards to finish in second place. By then the Aquatic Center was louder than it had been all season.
The atmosphere gave the Bobcats a push, as they won four of the first five events.
If Toledo had any hope to win the meet, it left after Ohio’s fast start and was completely diminished when the divers took the stage.
Once again the Bobcats swept the 3-meter diving competition by going first through third. Junior Kristin Capcik set a new school record by improving Morgan Srail’s old best from 333.10 points to 337.35 points.
“Almost all of my dives were stronger today than they were yesterday,” Capcik said.
Still, the divers weren’t done yet. After Haleigh Bartlett sat out against Xavier because of a cold, she came back to set a new school and pool record in the 1-meter dive with a score of 325.17 points — the old school record set by current redshirt junior Mary Rose Hillstrom was 309.40 points.
“(Diving coach) Russ (Dekker) said that it was the best set he has seen during his tenure here in Ohio,” Werner said. “I have to agree with that.”
In the end, Ohio’s fast start and divers would make the difference, despite Toledo never giving up and winning five out of the last nine swimming events.
“Toledo showed why they are the defending conference champions,” Werner said. “They gave us a tough competition all the way down to the last event. But that’s what we needed and what we wanted and that’s what is going to pay a huge difference at the championships.”
am794811@ohiou.edu
