Ohio (3-1, 1-1 in the Mid-American Conference) hosted Eastern Michigan (4-1, 2-0 in MAC) Friday evening for a MAC matchup.
The first event of the night was the 1-meter dive, which included three Bobcats in the top five. Sophomore Astrid Pichardo led the team with a first-place finish of 277.88 points, sophomore Stephanie Balthaser finished behind her in second with 255 points and senior Sophie Cooper, with 234 points, finished in fifth place.
“She’s (Pichardo) a qualifier for us, and winning off the board was important against a historically excellent Eastern Michigan diving program and that’s something she put her mind to,” Ohio coach Mason Norman said.
The first swimming event of the night was the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Bobcats took first place in the event with a time of 1:31.68, led by sophomore Zita Szoke (22.17), senior Caroline Dunigan (23.31), sophomore Katie Buroker (23.7) and junior Allie Schrank. Szoke’s 22.17 50 split set a school record.
The 200 IM came next, with the Bobcats holding the top four spots. Headed by junior Emily Ellsworth's first-place time of 2:03.23, followed by junior Morgan Brown’s 2:05.51, senior Julia Strine finished milliseconds behind Brown for third at 2:05.87 and senior Raph Anglade finished fourth at 2:05.87.
In the 500-yard freestyle, senior Gabby Mckee was all business, finishing first at 4:51.81, succeeding her came junior Anna Mcgrath at 4:57.63, junior Peyton Binns in fifth at 5:01.6 and sophomore Ashley Sallows at 5:01.69.
The 200-yard breaststroke saw junior Casadie Dibetta touching first at 2:12.16, followed by Ellsworth in second at 2:15.37, followed by Senior Eddie Sawyer in fourth at 2:19.83 and Strine in fifth at 2:21.85.
The Bobcats dominated the 200-yard backstroke, acquiring the top four spots led by sophomore Melanie Schweikert, touching first at 2:00.23, freshman Juliana Slaninka touched milliseconds later at 2:00.67, followed by Schrank in third (2:02.16) and Brown in fourth (2:02.24)
Mckee racked up another first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.25, followed by freshman Melissa Blaine in second (2:05.63), freshman Darby Murlin followed her at 2:07.03 and freshman Maddie Berg milliseconds behind in fifth at 2:07.77
Szoke demonstrated her speed with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.12, followed by Dunigan in second (50.50) and Buroker in third at 51.79.
The final event of the night was the 400M Medley relay, which the Bobcats cruised into first, led by Schrank, Dibetta, Szoke and Dunigan with a time of 3:39.59.
The Bobcats look to continue their dominance in the second half of the meet Saturday, Feb. 1, at 11 a.m. for Senior Day.
