Going into the last 50 yards of the 400-yard freestyle relay, Katey Brooks was half a body length behind Miami’s Maddie Kete. A flip turn and 20 seconds later, Brooks was stroke to stroke with Kete, and the Aquatic Center reached a new high point on the decibel scale.
Another four seconds later, the clock stopped at 3:28.60 for both teams.
The relay describes Ohio’s 176.5 to 123.5 loss against Miami perfectly, as the Bobcats always gave their best and were not rewarded for it.
“Anything can happen on senior day against your rival,” Ohio coach Greg Werner said before the meet, hoping for an upset against the RedHawks (11-1).
It didn’t help the Bobcats, however, that the fans had several chanting competitions with the RedHawks fans, that the alumni band played the fight song each time Ohio won an event and that the Bobcats swam several season bests — Miami was just too strong.
“You always want to win your last meet of the year, and you always want to win against your rival,” Werner said. “They tried hard; Miami is just a better team.”
At first, though, it didn’t look as if Miami was the better team. Ohio started off strong in the 200-yard medley relay, touching the wall after 1:43.87 minutes, just three hundredths of a second later than Miami. Before the meet, the Bobcats were ranked slower by 2.5 seconds.
“It was the fastest we have been all dual-meet season long,” Werner said. “It was a phenomenal swim.”
The Bobcats went on to win the next three out of four events, with Laurin Williams, Addy Ferguson and Tori Bagan gathering wins in the 1000-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. Still, the Bobcats were behind for the whole meet and had to combat Miami’s depth — and senior standout Bekka Westrick.
The freestyle and butterfly specialist finished in first place whenever she swam, scoring 27 points for Miami in three events. She was crucial in holding the Bobcats to just seven wins in 16 events.
“We were out-touched in many events,” Werner said. “They had a hard time finishing their race, which is disappointing. You want to show a little bit more than they were able to in your last home meet.”
Still, Miami coach Dave Jennings didn’t think that it was an easy meet against Ohio, despite the clear score.
“It is always tough to swim here at Ohio,” he said. “They swim very well in their pool.”
What the Bobcats also usually do well is diving, but they weren’t able to show their abilities against a strong Miami diving squad, as they lost the 3-meter diving event for only the third time this year.
“We did practically the same thing as every meet and sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn’t,” junior diver Kristin Capcik said, who went on to win the 1-meter diving competition.
Given Ohio’s results, Werner told his team before the meet ended that the outcome was already determined and that it was only a matter of character from then on.
Ohio’s show of character ended with a tie after 3:28.60 minutes in the final race.
“You’ll see a different result of our ladies at our championships,” Werner said.
am794811@ohiou.edu
