Pregame
What started out as a good day for the Bobcats, ended in a mediocre result. While being strong in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle, the Bobcats showed deficits in the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard butterfly. In the latter event, Ohio was only able to qualify two swimmers for the consolation final, while none of the Bobcats automatically qualified for a final in the 200-yard breaststroke. Instead sophomore Megan Davis has to hope that two swimmers forego the consolation final, to be allowed back in the pool.
Still, Ohio has good chances to bring home a third individual title tonight. Stearns will try to three peat as a MAC champion in the 200-yard back and Funk is seeded third in the 100-yard freestyle final.
Distance-standout Laurin Williams will also be back in the pool tonight, taking on the 1650-yard freestyle final. The junior has good chances to win the event.
Last but not least, the divers Morgan Srail and Kristin Capcik will be on the diving board tonight and the 400-yard freestyle relay will close out the meet.
The Bobcats have lost a lot of scoring opportunities this morning, but still should be able to score enough points tonight to hold on to second place. Miami, in the meantime, seems to be out of reach.
Seedings
200-yard backstroke
Anastasia Bocharnikova and Addy Ferguson are seeded 10th and 14th, respectively.
Rachel Stearns is seeded 7th in the championship final with a time of 2:00.28 minutes. If she were to win tonight, it would be her third MAC title in the 200-yard backstroke in three years.
100-yard freestyle
Katey Brooks is seeded 10th in the consolation final, with a personal best of 50.81 seconds. Freshman Haley Clark will take on her second final of the weekend being seeded in 16th with a time of 51.70 seconds.
Senior Lauren Funk is seeded third with a time 50.42 seconds. She swam a season best this morning and is trying to hold off Miami stand-out Bekka Westrick tonight.
200-yard breaststroke
Ohio hasn't qualified anybody for these finals - a first this weekend. If, however, two swimmers forego the consolation final, Megan Davis will be allowed back into the pool as she is the second alternate tonight.
200-yard fly
Michelle Gasior is seeded 12th with a time of 2:04.29 minutes. Joining her will Deidre Geroni in 16th with a time of 2:05.40 minutes.
Finals
1650-yard Freestyle
While Michelle Gasior had a declared false start, freshman Bianca Hauzer finished second in the consolation final with a time of 16:57.86 minutes, which was good enough for seventh place. This is a new season best by more than 30 seconds. Hauzer already finished eighth in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday night.
Steph Gyurke finished in seventh in the same final in a time of 17:18.59 minutes - another season best.
Laurin Williams is seeded fifth in her event with a time of 17:00.57. She should be able to cut that time by a lot tonight considering she had swum a 16.14.02 last year. At the 2012 MAC championships she finished second in the same event and went on to place 23rd at the NCAA Championships.
After half of the event Williams is in the lead and a full body length ahead of Eastern Michigan senior Briana Emig.
Nearly 10 minutes into the event, Williams laps the first swimmers and increased the lead to ten 10-yards. Outstanding performance so far.
After 14 minutes, Williams is in the lead by half of a pool length. She is attacking her own school record of 16:14.02 minutes right now.
Werner repeatedly tells her to go faster, assistant coach Derrick Roe joins him in his efforts.
What a swim of Laurin Williams. She won the the 1650-yard freestyle in a time of 16:14.60 and barely misses the school record by 0.58 seconds. The time also beats the NCAA b-cut. She finished nine seconds ahead of MAC senior award winner Briana Emig of Eastern Michigan.
200-yard Backstroke
Senior Bocharnikova wins the consolation final in a time of 1:59.59 minutes, while Ferguson finishes in sixth with a time of 2:01.64 minutes. This was a season best for both. The duo is done for the MAC meet.
Stearns finishes the championship final in fourth place with a time of 1:58.77 minutes. Despite swimming a season best it wasn't enough to three peat her individual title in this event.
Alexa Harris of Bowling Green won the event in a time of 1:57.30 minutes.
Stearns came out of the pool limping. She must have hurt herself during the event.
100-yard Freestyle
Katey Brooks wins her last ever 100-yard freestyle race in the consolation final in a time of 50.45 seconds. Clark finished in fifth in a season best of 51.36 seconds.
Funk is on her way to the blocks.
Funk placed fifth in the championship final in a time of 50.46 seconds and bested last years result by five spots. The Buffalo fans were the loudest during the event, as seniors Brittney Kuras and Mallory Morell went first and second, respectively. Kuras broke the MAC record in a time of 48.89 seconds.
200-yard Breaststroke
Megan Davis hopes to compete in the consolation final weren't fulfilled, as all swimmers competed in the event.
Ball State junior Bridgette Ruehl won the championship final in a time to 2:11.77 minutes, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Bowling Green freshmen Danielle Avilez.
This got Ohio into trouble, as Bowling Green is with 422 points just three points short of taking over Ohio's second place.
100-yard Butterfly
Michelle Gasior touches the wall after 2:03.77 minutes to finish third in the consolation final. She improves her season best by another second. Deidre Geroni finishes in eighth and last in the same event with a time of 2:05.78 minutes.
While Ohio won't have any participants in the championship final, Bowling Green has one in freshmen Jordan Bullock. Bowling Green could be in second place after this.
Eastern Michigan sophomore Jessie Godlweski just broke the MAC record in a time of 1:57.70 minutes to win the championship final. She improved the record by 0.14 seconds.
Bullock finished in fifth place, which was enough to push the Bobcats to third place in the team score. Bowling Green is second now. The Falcons, however, don't have a diver that will compete in the 3-meter diving tonight.
3-meter diving championship final
Morgan Srail and Kristin Capcik face a strong competition tonight as Eastern Michigan divers Kelly Hendricks and Danielle Huvey will also compete in the championship finals. Huvey placed first in the 1-meter diving competition, while Hendricks placed second.
Numerous Bobcats supported the divers, as Capcik and Srail took on the competition.
Srail finishes in 6th place with a score of 221.35 points, while Kristin Capcik places 5th with a score of 328.45 points. This result means no medals for the divers at the MAC championship this meeting, despite going into the meet with very ambitious goals.
Eastern Michigan has been to strong this weekend as Danielle Huvey broke the MAC record with 368.95 points to win the event. Her teammate Kelly Hendricks placed second with 351.85 points
400-yard freestyle relay
The whole Alumni Arena was standing, as the relays took the water for the last time during the championship.
Ohio finished in third with a time of 3:23.19 minutes - the third fastest time swum in program history.
Buffalo went on to win the event in front of their home crowd in a time of 3:20.24 minutes, which improved their seed by five seconds.
Miami placed second in a time of 3:22.10 minutes
Final results
1. Miami - 621 points
2. Ohio - 505 points
3. Bowling Green - 467 points
4. Eastern Michigan - 450 points
5. Buffalo - 421 points
6. Toledo - 394 points
7. Ball State - 345 points
8. Akron - 302 points
Summary
Ohio ends the last day of competition as it had ended the first day and second day: in second place. The Bobcats were able to hold on to the runner-up spot, despite being under pressure from Bowling Green, who took over the second place for one event after the 200-yard breaststroke. The key to beat the Falcons was not Ohio's swims, but rather the fact that the Falcons don't have a diving team. Otherwise the team scores might have looked completely different.
Still, the Bobcats had an amazing MAC championship with three school records (200-yard freestyle relay, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke) and nearly all swimmers posted season bests. In addition Ohio showed a lot of potential for the future, as freshman Addy Ferguson was the most decorated Bobcat with four medals (100-yard backstroke, 200-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay). Freshman Haley Clark also took home three medals (200-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard freestyle relay).
While most Bobcats will take a break from swimming now to enjoy their spring break, junior Laurin Williams will be back for practice in the Aquatic Center on Monday - she still has a mile of racing at the NCAA tournament ahead.
The divers will also be back in competition at the NCAA Zone competition in two weeks.
Miami, in the meantime, was able to clinch its 17th team title. The RedHawks were able to finish on top after the three-day competition, without winning one individual title - a first in the MAC.
Reactions
“I’m really happy with a second place finish because it was a tough meet for us. Things just weren’t clicking or flowing like maybe they were last year and certainly the year before. So I think it was a testament to the team to scrap and battle and come up with that second place finish." - Greg Werner
"I wasn't disappointed about finishing the weekend without any medals in the diving events. This has been the strongest MAC championship we have ever had. Now we're looking forward to the NCAA Zones." - Diving coach Russ Dekker
"It was fun (to win the 1650-yard freestyle). It was indescribable. It was amazing. (But) I died; I went out way to fast. I went the same time that I did last year so it was great to stay consistent. (My goal at NCAA is) to stay at my ranking ore move on. Last year I was 23rd, so I want to do better than that." - Laurin Williams
"It's a bittersweet feeling (to finish my swimming career). It's mostly sweet right now but it'll be bitter tomorrow. It's a great feeling (to finish the 100-yard freestyle in fifth place), especially because it's my senior year and not a lot of swimmers improve their senior year. I wanted (a medal) but I've been swimming with those girls all four years and I knew they were just as strong as I am so it was a toss up." - Lauren Funk
"It was phenomenal. We finished in last last year so it was a huge jump. We did everything we had to do and hoped for the best. Going into the meet we weren't even thinking about third place so we were excited about that." - BGSU coach Petra Marten
"I am really excited for our seniors. This has been their goal for four years and there have been a lot of ups and downs over those four years. I think for them to come in and end their career winning a championship, that is a special thing. I thought our depth showed up this weekend. Our prelim swimming was very good. I'm sure as an individual it's disappointing (to not win a title), but I think the team goal is to win the team title. It's something we haven't done in four years." - Miami Coach Dave Jennings
