Ohio came away from the three-day Louisville Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky without a single first-place finish, but is still encouraged by the results.
Louisville, ranked eighth in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America poll, dominated the meet. Florida International University came in second and Ohio came in third. Southern Illinois trailed closely behind in fourth with Illinois State and Wright State in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Ohio coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh said before the invitational that improvement in everyone’s times was key, which showed as most of the swimmers had their best times of the season.
The relays were where Ohio was the most consistent, securing three third-place finishes in the five relays and two fourth-place finishes. The third-place finishes were in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay. The 400-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay were the two fourth-place finishes for the Bobcats.
For the first time this season, Corrin Van Lanen was not able to win the either the 50- or 100-yard freestyles.
Despite her best time of the season in the 50-yard freestyle, Van Lanen was only able to finish in sixth place. In the 100-yard freestyle, she swam under 52 seconds for the first time this season, but finished in eight place. Van Lanen had her best individual finish, third place, in the 100-yard butterfly, an event she has not won yet this year.
Olivia Dillon was the best diver for Ohio, finishing in sixth place in the 3-meter diving event and eighth in the 1-meter event.
Laura Dawson achieved the second-best individual result for the Bobcats with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke and her first time under two minutes this season. Elena Patz finished sixth in the 200-yard butterfly and Carrie Dukes added a ninth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
Mikayla Herich had her best time by four seconds in the 500-yard freestyle but only managed to finish seventh along with eighth-place in the 200-yard individual medley.
Komisarz-Baugh said before the meet she expected a second or third place finish, which the Bobcats did while testing themselves in the first multi-day meet of the season.
The next time Ohio will be in the pool will be Dec. 2 against Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia for a dual-meet.
