Ohio participated in the Mid-American Conference Championship this week at Oliver J. Ocasek Natatorium in Akron, Ohio. In total, Ohio won two events and broke six school records, finishing in second place behind Akron and ahead of seven teams.
Competition began Wednesday with the 200-yard medley relay, where Ohio’s relay team of freshman Lily Baumgartner, senior Casadie DiBetta, sophomore Jordan Claypoole and junior Zita Szoke finished third to start the week for the Bobcats.
The other event Wednesday was the 800-yard freestyle relay, which saw freshman Katrina Kollin, sophomore Ashlyn Morr, senior Anna McGrath and freshman Juliette Daigneault finish fourth for the Bobcats. Ohio concluded Wednesday in third behind Akron and Buffalo.
Thursday’s events began with the 500-yard freestyle, which saw three Bobcats place, as Kollin, McGrath and Moor finished fourth, 10th and 14th, respectively. This was followed by the 200-yard individual medley, where Daigneault finished fourth and senior Emily Ellsworth finished sixth.
The 50-yard freestyle not only saw Szoke finish third, the highest individual placement of any Ohio swimmer on Thursday, but also set a new school record. This was not the only school record of the day: the 400-yard medley relay of junior Melanie Schweikert, DiBetta, Claypoole and Szoke finished second as they set a school record.
Thursday also marked the first diving event of the competition with the 1-meter diving, where Astrid Pichardo finished sixth. The Bobcats ended day two by moving ahead of Buffalo into second, trailing only Akron.
On Friday, Ohio opened up with five swimmers placing in the first two events, as Claypoole finished fifth and freshmen Jana Macik and Tori Wittenberg turned in respective ninth and 14th place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly, followed by Ellsworth finishing ninth and senior Morgan Brown finishing 10th in the 400-yard individual medley.
The 200-yard freestyle marked the Bobcats’ first event win, as Szoke won the 200-yard freestyle for the third year in a row, which was the fastest time ever set at Ocasek Natatorium and automatically qualified her for the NCAA Championships.
Kollin and Daigneault also registered top-ten finishes in this event, as they placed seventh and ninth. Szoke was not the only Ohio swimmer to make history Friday. DiBetta’s second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke marked a school record.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Schweikert finished fifth, and Baumgartner finished sixth, while senior Allie Schrank finished 11th. Then, in the following event, the 100-yard backstroke, three Ohio swimmers placed. Schweikert came in fourth, sophomore Juliana Slaninka finished 11th and Baumgartner finished 13th.
This was followed by the final event of the day, the 200-yard freestyle relay, where the relay team of Wittenberg, Szoke, junior Katie Buroker and Claypoole set a school record en route to a second-place finish. The Bobcats ended the day remaining in second, with Akron pulling further ahead and Ball State, Buffalo and Miami (OH) all within striking distance.
The final day of competition opened with the 1650-yard freestyle, where McGrath placed fifth and Kollin finished ninth. The 200-yard backstroke saw Schweikert, Baumgartner and Slaninka place again, as they scored respective third, 10th and 11th place finishes.
After picking up an Ohio, MAC and pool record in prelims, Szoke scored another gold medal with a win in the 100-yard freestyle, marking her third-straight year winning the event and another automatic NCAA Championships qualification. Daigneault and Wittenberg also scored respective sixth- and 13th-place finishes in this event.
The following event, the 200-yard breaststroke, saw another Ohio win. DiBetta won her third-straight title in the event and securing a trip to the NCAA Championships. Ellsworth also finished fifth in the event.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Macik finished in third place, the highest-placing freshman in the event, while junior Bella Arbaugh finished seventh. The 3-meter dive saw Pichardo place seventh and freshman Bella Basford finish 11th. The Bobcats showed out in the final event Saturday: the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Wittenberg, Szoke, Daigneault and Claypoole finished second and set a new school record.
However, despite the strong final day, Ohio was unable to stop Akron from claiming its fifth-straight MAC title, as the Bobcats finished in second place overall. Although Ohio fell short of its first conference title since 2011, it was the Bobcats’ second-straight year finishing in second and third-straight year on the podium, implying that this is a continued pattern of success for the program.
With conference championships wrapped up, any Ohio divers who qualify will participate in the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships at Michael H. Jones Natatorium in Ypsilanti, Michigan from March 11-13. Meanwhile, the swimmers head to Ocala, Florida, from March 12-14 to participate in the CSCAA National Invitational. Szoke and DiBetta travel to Atlanta to participate in the NCAA Championships from March 18-21.
