After a doubleheader on Saturday, which was composed of dual meets against Iowa State and West Virginia, Ohio coach Derick Roe sat in his office slightly sweating and fatigued from the meets.
The Bobcats, which finished 1-2 in their final homestand of the season — which also included a Friday matchup with Bowling Green — were exhausted from the trio of bouts.
“The ladies did a great job,” Roe said. “We improved on our racing, which was one of our goals, and got in the mindset to finish out the rest of the season.”
That mindset includes overcoming injuries that have loomed over the team during the past few weeks.
“We’re not 100 percent right now,” sophomore Addy Ferguson said on Friday after Ohio’s 152-141 loss to Bowling Green. “But we’re going to use that as motivation.”
The Bobcats struggled in the breaststroke events against the Falcons, swimming without their “ ‘A’ swimmer,” Roe said.
“Tori (Bagan) is irreplaceable,” freshman Hannah Shinn said. “I’m just glad she was back for (Saturday).”
Shinn replaced Bagan on the 100-yard breaststroke against the Falcons and posted a time of 1:06.93.
“Hannah did an absolutely wonderful job filling in,” Roe said. “It can be tough filling in the shoes of someone like Tori, but Hannah did a great job.”
Shinn relished the opportunity to get up and race against opponents she felt were superior.
“It was really good to swim against some of the older swimmers,” Shinn said. “It was cool to just watch and see how fast some of them were. Learning from that has really helped me, I think.”
Ohio’s dive team continued its hot streak against the trio of teams, winning all diving events it competed in this past weekend.
“This week has shown what we are capable of,” senior MaryRose Hillstrom said.
“We’re definitely rising up to the occasion and diving well against some good competitors.”
Junior Morgan Srail carried the Bobcats during the three-meter dive competitions. Junior diver Haleigh Bartlett missed her third consecutive meet.
Roe said earlier last week that Bartlett injured her foot before a meet against Akron on Jan. 25 but is expected to return by the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Losing three of the past four dual meets, the team will next face off against Xavier in an unorthodox meet.
“Xavier is a nontraditional meet,” Roe said. “They swim different events and so we’ll have to switch up our lineup. Then we have Miami on Saturday, and that’s always a big matchup.”
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Fast Facts:
Number of days since Ohio had not lost consecutive meets: 447
With a first place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle against WVU and Iowa, senior Laurin Williams notched her sixth straight long-distance win.
Ohio now stands at 5-4 and 2-2 in MAC play.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Bobcats drop two of three"
