ATHENS, Ohio. November 7. A home meet turned out to be all the Ohio swimming and diving team needed to pick up its first dual-meet win of the year, as the Bobcats defeated Bowling Green (1-2, 1-2 Mid-American Conference), 150.5-135.5, in the team's first home contest of the year.
"This team has a lot of pride and a lot of character and I think we saw that today," Ohio head coach Greg Werner said. "They showed the heart of champions and they're the defending (MAC) champions, so they should. They definitely stood up and competed very well."
Senior Ashley Marion, competing in her first meet of the season, paced Ohio (1-2, 1-2 MAC) with first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyle in times of 51.78 and 1:52.66, respectively. As a team, the 'Cats did well in both events too, as sophomore Amanda Traylor took second in the 200 freestyle (1:53.13), while Ohio grabbed the top four spots in the 100 freestyle. Behind Marion was junior Chelsey Bower in a time of 52.56, followed by freshman Abby Corcoran in 53.58 and senior Carine Vieira de Souza in 53.88.
"Ashley's been performing and training very well, so it's great to have her back in the mix," Werner said. "We're looking forward to having her there again tomorrow, because she's going to have some great races (against Toledo)."
Bower earned a first-place finish of her own, taking the 50 freestyle in 24.00, while Corcoran was second in a time of 24.68. Traylor also gave Ohio a boost with her first-place finish in the 500 freestyle (5:05.43), while freshman Annika Games earned second in 5:12.43. Also placing well for the Bobcats was sophomore Rachel Heim, who chipped in with wins in the 100 backstroke (58.31) and 100 butterfly (57.40).
As the lone Ohio diver, Amy Bromberg contributed to the victory finishing ahead of three Bowling Green divers in the 1-meter event with a personal-best score of 220.95, while taking second in the 3-meter event with 204.37 points. The Falcons' Molly Wood finished on top in 3-meter diving.
Sophomore Amanda Cecere won the 200 butterfly (2:05.85), while junior Leah Giancarli grabbed second place in a time of 2:06.61. Cecere finished second in the 200 backstroke (2:09.80), as well.
The final first-place finisher for the Bobcats was junior Allison Schaefer, who swam a personal-best 1:06.10 in the 100 breaststroke en route to victory. Freshman Laura Stasiuk landed just behind Schaefer in 1:06.26. Fellow freshman Kristen Witham took second in both the 1650 freestyle (17:50.40) and the 200 individual medley (2:12.37), to help Ohio as well.
"We had great performances all over the place," Werner said. "Carine Souza swam fantastically. She had her best dual meet in maybe years. Amy Bromberg dove very well again, setting a personal best on the 1-meter and came away with the win there. Allison Schaefer got a lifetime best today and I believe Kasey Tolbert got one as well. Anytime you can swim a lifetime best in season (as opposed to the championships), that's tremendous. I'm sure I missed some people (that swam well), but we performed very well as a team today."
Special thanks to Ohio University for contributing this report.