Last season was a success for Ohio (1-0, 1-0 Mid-American Conference), after finishing third in the MAC Championship with 583 total points and seeing its first NCAA qualifier in a decade with freshman Zita Szoke. With the 2023 season behind it, Ohio got off to a strong start in 2024 with a 227-73 win against Toledo (0-1, 0-1 MAC).
In the season opener, Ohio won 15 of 16 events. In the singular event it didn’t win, the 100-yard butterfly, Ohio took second, fifth, sixth and eighth.
Down the events, starting with the first of the night, the three-meter dive, Ohio sophomore Astrid Pichardo ran away with first place, scoring a total of 251.40. Second was Toledo senior Kassandra Gutierrez (235.80), with Ohio making up the next four placings with sophomore Stephanie Balthasar (225.15), senior Sophie Cooper (217.65), sophomore Savanna Bos (x214.35) and freshman Annie Haluch (x197.48).
Pichardo would take first in the one-meter dive, the afternoon’s ninth event, totaling 259.95 points for a total of 510.35 points on the day. Ohio’s four other divers from the three-meter dive would take top-six spots once again, with freshman Camryn Quiggins taking seventh (x197.78).
The first swimming event of the night was the 200-meter relay, in which Ohio took first with a group of junior Allison Schrank, junior Casadie Dibetta, Szoke and graduate student Caroline Dunigan, with a time of 1:42.92.
Senior Gabrielle McKee would run away with the next event, the 1,000-yard freestyle, with a time of 10:24.24, over 15 seconds faster than Ohio’s second-place finisher, sophomore Ashley Sallows. Ohio would take the top four spots in the event.
The 200-yard freestyle came next, seeing Szoke at last-season form as she finished first with a time of 1:51.75. Toledo freshman Rosie Richards would finish second at 1:53.61, with Ohio making up third and fourth with sophomore Katie Buroker and junior Peyton Binns.
Ohio would dominate the 100-meter backstroke with the top-four finishers, headed by Schrank with a time of 57.40, freshman Leah Guess not far behind her teammate at 57.84. The 100-meter breaststroke would go much the same, with Ohio again taking the top four spots. Dibetta led by over a second, finishing with a time of 1:03.25.
The seventh and eighth events, the 200-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle would finish with similar orders. Ohio would take both, McKee winning the former with a time of 2:03.76 and Dunigan taking the latter with a time of 24.12, followed by Toledo swimmers, sophomore Leah Evans and junior Janne Slegers respectively, with Ohio finishing out spots three through five.
After a diving break, Szoke would get right back to it in the 100-meter freestyle, helping Ohio to a win in each of the four events she was involved in. Szoke would finish with a time of 50.67, followed by Slegers (52.48) and Buroker (52.70).
Events 11 and 12 were dominated by Ohio, taking the top four finishers in each. The first of the two, the 200-yard backstroke, was taken by Schrank in a dominant afternoon with a time of 2:05.22. The second, the 200-yard breaststroke, saw Dibetta get her second individual win with a time of 2:19.15.
McKee would take her third event, the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 5:04.44, almost five seconds ahead of Toledo’s second-place finisher Richards, who finished at 5:09.14.
After Ohio’s single non-winning event, the 100-yard butterfly, the team would get right back to winning the 200-yard individual medley with junior Emily Ellsworth finishing at 2:09.70. The final event of the night was the 400-yard freestyle relay, which saw Ohio take its fifteenth event with a group of freshman Jordan Claypoole, Szoke, Dunigan and Buroker finishing at 3:28.29.
Next week, Ohio will look to continue its dominant start with a two-day matchup against Illinois State in Normal, Illinois, playing at 5 p.m. on Oct. 18 and at 1 p.m. on Oct. 19.
