The Bobcats will look to stay undefeated when they swim in their first home meet of the season when Buffalo comes to town Saturday.
Ohio returns to its home pool after winning two matches in a two-day road trip against Mid-American Conference opponents Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan. Ohio took care of business against the Falcons and barely edged the Eagles.
Coach Greg Werner said he was pleased with his team’s resiliency to squeeze out a victory in Ypsilanti.
“That was a complete team effort to win a close meet like that, and we’re hoping that we’re in the same position this weekend,” Werner said.
Buffalo is coming into the match with a win against Pittsburgh and a narrow loss to Toledo in the rearview mirror. Werner said he wants to see how Ohio stacks up against a team that defeated a Big East member and a close loss to one of the better programs in the MAC.
“I’m really excited to see their sprint program and our sprint program butting heads and pushing each other to hopefully some great performances this weekend,” Werner said. But he is not taking the Bulls lightly and is wary of one of their recent transfers: sophomore Brittney Kuras.
“You would be remiss if you didn’t recognize Brittney Kuras,” Werner said. “She is just lighting up the Mid-American Conference so far this year and putting some times up and really having the coaches and the athletes around the conference stand up and take notice.”
Last week, Ohio freshmen Tori Bagan, Morgan Srail and Haleigh Bartlett all had impressive debuts. Srail qualified for the 2012 NCAA Diving Zones with her score against Eastern Michigan, but Werner emphasized it will take a total team effort to come away with a victory.
Werner said he is excited to come home for the first meet of the year.
“We take a lot of pride in competing at home and defending our house, so we’re really excited we don’t have to do the traveling this weekend because it does take a lot of out of you,” Werner said.
But Werner said being at home does not guarantee a victory.
“With Buffalo, I know they’re going to have to earn it,” Werner said. “I can’t emphasize enough they’re a very, very good team.”
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