Ohio will play Akron, the reigning MAC Champion, this weekend at home.
It's tough enough to take on a nationally ranked team and the defending conference champions in consecutive weeks.
Doing so without arguably your best swimmer? Now, that is a tall order for any team.
Ohio was without senior Addison Ferguson last weekend against Ohio State and Bowling Green and will continue to miss her because of an undisclosed injury until the Mid-American Conference championships, according to coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh.
Ferguson still practices in a limited role with the team, but Komisarz-Baugh is being careful with Ferguson, who she called a "superstar."
Coming off two losses last week, Komisarz-Baugh said the team needs to work on finishing races, as the team lost points on a few events last weekend by getting out-touched at the wall. She said improving would be about confidence and building a large enough lead where there is no need to worry about how you finish.
The freshmen were as advertised last weekend and should only get better.
Both freshmen Ana Henderson and Corinn Van Lanen said having a few races under their belts will transform their "pre-race nerves" into "pre-race confidence."
Both freshmen also picked up individual first-place finishes last weekend.
Ohio was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in the MAC, and Akron is the defending MAC champion, but the Bobcats are not running afraid of the Zips.
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"The MAC is one of those conferences that I think anyone can win on any given day," Komisarz-Baugh said. "So yes, they're the MAC champion, but they're not invincible. We can defeat them."
Komisarz-Baugh said collegeswimming.com ranked Ohio one spot ahead of Akron in its mid-major rankings after last weekend. So technically, even without Ferguson, the Bobcats are the favorite this weekend.
Ohio has been tested early in the season. It faced nationally ranked Ohio State, and two MAC teams that are close in ability, according to polls and the final score at Bowling Green last weekend.
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