Ohio started the weekend with wins over Duquesne and Xavier, but fell to Buffalo.
The body of an athlete can only be pushed so far in a given time span.
The Bobcats found that out the hard way Saturday with a loss to Buffalo following an impressive performance Friday night.
After sweeping a tri-meet on the road in Pittsburgh with Duquesne (153-107.5) and in-state rival Xavier (198-63) on Friday night, Ohio was beaten on the road when it headed further north and squared off with Mid-American Conference foe, Buffalo, losing 185-112 Saturday.
In Friday’s contest, the Bobcats took first place in 10 events, including multiple scoring spots in many of those events on their way to an easy win in the tri-meet.
The win was the Bobcats' fourth in their previous five meets, with the lone loss being a second place finish at the University of Louisville Invitational.
With the recent success, Ohio had confidence going into Saturday night.
Saturday, however, was quite a different story.
Against the Bulls, the Bobcats had only four first place finishes and some swimmers saw their times slower, in comparison to Friday night’s times.
A positive from Saturday’s meet against Buffalo was Haleigh Bartlett, a redshirt senior from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who won her sixth straight 3-meter dive event.
One of the other few bright spots from the weekend action was the Bobcats butterfly swimmers.
Ohio coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh said previously she takes pride in her butterfly swimmers and it showed over the weekend. Against the Dukes and the Musketeers, the Bobcats' reliable source of points took first, third and fourth in the 200-yard butterfly, getting a first place finish from Elena Patz, a sophomore from Waunakee, Wisconsin.
Patz also scored points in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing fourth.
The butterfly swimmers finished strong on Saturday, too, sweeping the 100-yard butterfly event. First place went to Addison Ferguson with a time of 57.32.
Ohio will conclude its home schedule for this season when they host Ball State on Jan. 30. That meet will be the Bobcat's Senior Day and will begin at 1 p.m. in the Aquatic Center.
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