Ohio had a week off and will return to the pool against a strong Marshall team.
Fresh off a week of rest and preparation for its next meet against Marshall, Ohio is hoping to shake off the last bit of rust.
The Bobcats will head to Huntington, West Virginia, on Friday to take on Marshall.
The season is still just getting underway, but Marshall has seen more competitive events so far.
The Thundering Herd took second place at the West Virginia Games, which was a series of double dual meets against North Carolina at Asheville and Gardner-Webb, Vanderbilt and Xavier, as well as Wright State and IUPUI.
That was a strong finish for the Thundering Herd and will fuel a team that will already be a challenge for the rebuilding Bobcat team.
“I think it is going to be a close meet, as a lot of them are,” diving coach Russ Dekker said. “Every race is important, every place within that race is important, it gets your blood flowing.”
Every result will be important as the Bobcats look to take home their second win in a meet this year.
The team has struggled to maintain momentum from their strongest two events, the 1000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard medley relay. In those two events, the Bobcats have taken home first place finishes in each meet, except for the 1000-yard freestyle where redshirt junior Bianca Hauzer finished second.
The scores might reflect a struggling Bobcats squad, but strong performances by individuals have shaped who the role models on the team are. Regardless of the 1-3 start, first-year coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh is happy with the team’s production, but believes that there is still room to improve.
“The score hasn't shown it at the end of the day, but I think we are swimming really well,” Komisarz-Baugh said. “If you look at the swimming side of events, we did win 7-of-14 events at Eastern (Michigan). We got the studs, we just need a little more depth.”
Depth is one of the Bobcats’ biggest weakness so far, as the team is down to just one diver. But Ohio has shown that despite lacking in numbers, it can still put together strong performances that highlight individual skills.
This will be the final meet for Ohio before the H2Okie Invitational, which is one of the biggest events of the year. Friday’s meet will help the Bobcats see where they need to improve and how to improve before the three-day event next week.
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