In a women’s tri-meet this weekend, Ohio picked up a pair of wins. They beat Duquesne 153.3-107.5, and Xavier 198-63. Duquesne secured a 195-66 win over Xavier to make sure they didn’t head home empty handed.
Ohio:
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Ohio swimming and diving team continued its strong start to the 2016 portion of the season on Friday (Jan. 22) evening when the Bobcats defeated both Xavier (198-63) and Duquesne (153.5 – 107.5) in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Bobcats claimed 11 first-place finishes on the night.
“The meet against Duquesne and Xavier today was tough, but it’s always fun racing great teams,” head coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh said. “We had a few break through swims and I can see things starting to come together for this team. Tomorrow will be a true test of strength and focus for this team. I believe they will have a lot more to show.”
The first event of the night was the 400-yard Medley Relay where the Bobcat’s ‘A’ team of Addison Ferguson (Westfield Center, Ohio), Mackenzie Hornstra (Naperville, Ill.), Laura Dawson (Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eng.) and Corrin Van Lanen (Green Bay, Wis.) took first in 3:52.50. Ohio’s ‘B’ team of Caroline Raley (Mobile, Ala.), Ariel Hodges (Warren, Mich.) Carrie Dukes (Monkton, Md.) and Katie Lemen (Carmel, Ind.) took fifth in 4:00.07
Next was the 1000-yard freestyle where Ana Henderson (Danville, Calif.) took first in 10:26.30. Bianca Hauzer (Bedfordview, South Africa) followed in third, touching in at 10:37.82.
The third event of the night was the 200-yard freestyle where Dawson claimed first in 1:52.00. Josephine Barker (Richmond, N.Yorkshire, Eng.) took fourth, touching in at 1:55.40. Kimberly Zehnder and Lemen took sixth and eighth respectively, touching in at 1:57.12 and 1:58.28.
Up next was the 100-yard backstroke where Ferguson took first in 57.14, Raley took second in 58.40, Clark took seventh in 1:00.03 and Myriah Ariza-Balter (Evergreen, Colo.) took eighth in 1:00.59
The fifth event of the night was the 100-yard breast. Hornstra took third in 1:07.40, Kelse Johnson (Centennial, Colo.) took eighth in 1:09.34, Hodges took ninth in 1:09.80
In the 200-yard butterfly Elena Patz (Waunakee, Wis.) claimed first in 2:07.44, Emily Davis (Lexington, Ky.) took third in 2:09.47 and Maddie Wyke (Columbus, Ind.) took fourth in 2:10.30.
The seventh event was the 50-yard freestyle. Van Lanen tied for first in 23.91, Haley Clark (College Station, Texas) took fifth in 24.79, Dukes took eighth in 25.32 and Lexie White took ninth in 25.70
Next up was the 100-yard freestyle Van Lanen took first in 51.75, Clark took fourth in 54.42, Barker took fifth in 54.56 and Lemen took seventh in 54.97
In the 200-yard backstroke Dawson claimed first in 2:00.70, Zehnder took third in 2:07.21, Raley took fourth in 2:07.91 and Ariza-Balter took seventh in 2:10.91
In 200-yard breaststroke Hornstra claimed first in 2:23.60, Stephanie Gyurke (Bellevue, Ohio) took fourth in 2:25.52, Johnson took seventh in 2:29.36 and Hodges took eighth in 2:32.61
In the 500-yard freestyle Henderson took second in 5:07.04, Hauzer took fifth in 5:12.19, Barker took sixth in 5:14.55 and Davis took eighth in 5:15.25
In the 100-yard butterfly Dukes took first in 57.45, Patz took fourth in 58.75 and Wyke took fifth in 59.39.
In the thirteenth event of the night, the 200-yard IM, Dawson claimed first in 2:06.75, Gyurke took second in 2:09.76, Patza took sixth in 2:13.30 and Ariza-Balter took eighth in 2:14.85
The last event of the night was the 200-yard freestyle relay where the ‘A’ team of Clark, Barker, Ferguson and Van Lanen took second in 1:37.41. The ‘B’ team of Hornstra, Dukes, Zehnder and Lemen took fifth in 1:40.73.
The Bobcats return to action on Saturday, Jan. 23 when they head to Buffalo, N.Y. to take on Mid-American Conference foe Buffalo. The meet is set to being at 1 p.m.
Xavier:
PITTSBURGH – The Xavier women’s swim program started a busy weekend in Pennsylvania, taking on Duquesne and Ohio at Towers Pool on the campus of DU on Friday evening. The men’s and women’s programs return to action on Sunday at the Butler Invite.
The Musketeers opened the meet at Duquesne with a third place finish in the 400 medley relay, with the ‘A’ team of Caroline Gaertner, Haley Dresner, Ashley Whiteley and Paxtyn Drew finishing in a time of 3:59.13.
To open individual events, Taylor Jach upped her eighth-best time in Xavier records to 10:41.65, touching the wall fourth. Maggie Kauffeld touched the wall in 10:59.92 for fifth place.
Katie Kerr scored a top-five finish in the 200 free, posting a time of 1:56.00. Kerr also collected the top finish of the day for the Musketeers, taking the top spot in the 500 free with a time of 5:06.47. Emily Wagner followed shortly after Kerr, taking fourth with a time of 5:11.96.
Drew also grabbed a top-five finish in the 100 back, touching the wall in a time of 59.21.
Maggie Kauffeld used a time of 2:11.87 to take fifth in the 200 fly.
Hanna Martin led the Musketeers in the 200 breast, posting a time of 2:27.22 to take fifth.
The Musketeers closed the event with a fourth place finish in the 200 free relay, withClaire Brolsma, Laura Dicus, Drew and Gaertner finishing in a time of 1:40.58.
Xavier fell by a final score of 195-66 to host Duquesne and 198-63 to Ohio.
The Xavier women will now join the men’s team at the Butler Invite in Fishers, Ind. on Sunday, Jan. 24. The Musketeers will face off against BIG EAST foe Butler, as well as Bellarmine, St. Louis, SIU and Youngstown State. Events are scheduled to begin at noon.
Duquesne:
Duquesne’s swimming team wrapped up the home portion of its schedule by defeating Xavier, 195-66 while falling to Ohio U., 153.5-107.5.
After three straight second place finishes to open the meet, the Dukes captured its first win as freshman Abby Stauffer touched the pads first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.58. Not far behind her in second was sophomore Kayla Owens with a time of 1:06.92.
The only other individual win of the day came as sophomore Gabrielle Sibilia tied for first in the 50-yard freestyle with a Towers Pool record time of 23.91. Senior Samantha Ray and freshman Kristen McKnight came in third and fourth.
The meet ended with DU’s 200 free relay team of Ray, senior Claire Nobles, McKnight and Sibilia taking first place with a Towers Pool record time of 1:35.96.
“Overall I was very pleased with our performances today,” said head coach David Sheets. “We had a lot of tight races that could have gone either way. Some of the swimmers were not happy with how they performed…..rightly so, but they need to put this meet behind them and focus on the next three weeks. We are right where we need to be. We still have to tighten some things up but we are definitely moving in the right direction.”
The Red and Blue return to action on Saturday, Jan. 30 as they compete in the Western Pennsylvania Invitational at 11:00 am at Pitt.
Swimming news courtesy of Ohio, Duquesne, and Xavier Swimming & Diving.
Great wins for the Bobcats! Exciting to see that they are finally coming around. The swimming community knew it would only be a matter of time before Coach Baugh got things going!!! I’m excited to see all of that talent in Ohio come to Athens in the near future – who wouldn’t want to swim for an Olympic gold medalist!!!
Coach mentions some break through swims and a big challenge the next day versus Buffalo. Is there a follow up article addressing that competition? I know the Bulls trounced the Cats thoroughly last Saturday (180+ – 110+) but I would like to hear Coach’s perspective on what was gained, lost and learned from the weekend.
Thnx!