The MAC Championships concluded Saturday night and Laura Dawson not only took two gold medals but also left Ypsilanti, Michigan with MAC Swimmer of the Meet.
Ohio may have finished sixth overall at the Mid-American Conference Championships Saturday night, but Laura Dawson left the meet with more than just medals: MAC swimmer of the meet.
Dawson swam in the 200-meter backstroke and butterfly and claimed gold in both events. Not only did she take the top podium spot, she surpassed her personal best time in each event as well, something coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh has pushed for all of her girls for this meet.
Even though points were not a priority for her, she added that a lot of the points lost for Ohio were from diving because the team only fielded one freshman diver.
However, since points are a part of the meet, she noted that this year, the Bobcats did score about 90 more points this year than last, showing the strong improvement.
“It was a really hard fought sixth place finish,” Komisarz-Baugh said.
Komisarz-Baugh said Thursday night that Friday and Saturday should be the strongest meet days because of a strategic move on her end — one that proved to be successful.
She rested her better swimmers hoping they would swim their best because Komisarz-Baugh wasn’t worried what place the Bobcats were in.
And her girls did just that.
With 19 girls swimming over the last two days of the meet, several of the girls dropped their times and broke their own personal best record.
“The girls that were in finals tonight really stepped up, moved up some places, and dropped their times and overall I think they were two really strong nights for us,” she said.
This meet was a success for Komisarz-Baugh because her mission was accomplished: drop times.
Even though points are tallied at the end of it all, her expectations were for each girl to try and get a new personal best and for most of the girls, they did.
“That’s what we were hoping for and we are really proud of the girls to be able to achieve that,” she said.
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