With Miami coming to town Saturday, the Aquatic Center might hit unfamiliar decibel levels, giving Ohio an advantage in terms of fan support against the heavily favored RedHawks.
“Toledo was nothing — the Aquatic Center will be much louder this weekend,” Ohio coach Greg Werner said, looking ahead to the upcoming senior weekend, which includes the Bobcats’ last two dual meets before heading to the Mid-American Conference Championships at the end of the month.
Miami is 9-1 in dual meets this season, with its only loss suffered on Oct. 19 against Purdue. Since then, Miami is undefeated, with wins against Akron, Buffalo, Ball State and Toledo.
“They are the favorite for the Mid-American Championship this year,” Werner said. “While they aren’t the defending champion like Toledo, they are the standard in the conference. They will be tougher to beat than Toledo.”
The RedHawks outrank the Bobcats in 16 of 19 swimming events and unlike in their meet against Toledo, the RedHawks’ past results indicate they have the upper hand in most races.
Miami’s relay teams are in such impressive shape that they outswim Ohio by 2.5 seconds on even a short distance such as the 200-yard freestyle relay. The same counts for the medley relays.
The reason for Miami’s success lies in its depth, as it has 36 athletes on its roster, which is 12 more than Ohio’s total, and Bekka Westrick. The senior butterfly and freestyle specialist has set three school records this year alone.
Despite all the positive statistics, Miami coach Dave Jennings doesn’t see the RedHawks as the superior of the two teams.
“Ohio will be a very strong and confident team going into this weekend's meet,” he said. “This will be our toughest dual meet of the season."
Werner, however, knows that it won’t be easy to come out on top against the all-time winningest MAC Championship team, though the divers are in favor to win their events.
He said his team’s senior weekend emotion will come into play Saturday.
“Things happen on senior weekend,” Werner said. “Things happen when you go against your rival. Things happen in the last meet of the year or before the championships. It can go either way. If they best us, we know that they earned (it). If we best them we know, we earned it.”
Also playing into the Saturday meet is the fact that Ohio will end its matchup against Youngstown State just 17 hours prior to heading to the pool with Miami.
“We want to be challenged on Friday so we are fatigued on Saturday,” Werner said. “We need to learn how to compete when we’re fatigued because they will be at the championships.”
The competition against Youngstown State is reminiscent of Ohio’s meet against Xavier this past week. Being ranked higher in all 19 swimming events, Ohio once again takes on a lower ranked team prior to a big meet on Saturday.
Moreover, the Bobcats have won against the Penguins in each of the last seven years. Having only a 4-5 record this season, Youngstown doesn’t seem to be breaking this streak any time soon.
“I don’t think they have the depth we have,” Werner said. “I don’t think they have the balance we do. But it doesn’t matter. Anything can happen on any given day of sports and we know and understand that.”
Werner also knows that Youngstown will be the calm before the storm. Saturday is the day when it really matters.
am794811@ohiou.edu
UP NEXT
OHIO vs. Youngstown State
5 p.m. Friday
Aquatic Center
OHIO vs. Miami
12 p.m. Saturday
Aquatic Center
