Ohio travels to Bowling Green this week for a chance to win its 12th conference championship in school history.
Ohio had its ups and downs throughout the regular season, but whether the season will be labeled as a success depends on the next four days in Bowling Green, Ohio.
In those four days, Ohio will try to capture its 12th Mid-American Conference Championship. Ohio hasn't won the MAC Championship since 2011.
Ohio has been on a recent tear, winning its previous two meets since a 185-112 loss at Buffalo.
But to accomplish their season-long goal, coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh said the Bobcats will have to be better in an area where they have struggled for the most of the season.
"When we do back-to-back meets, we haven't come back on that second day and swam faster," Komisarz-Baugh said. "We haven't done well on that at all this year, and MAC's is a three-and-a-half day meet, so they're gonna have to come back day after day after day and swim faster."
Komisarz-Baugh said she is confident her team can finish top three in the meet, despite perennial powerhouse Akron (back-to back defending champions) and Eastern Michigan (last year's runner-up) being tough competition for Ohio.
Besides the obvious quest for a conference title, Ohio has many individual goals that could be met at the meet.
Komisarz-Baugh said Addison Ferguson, Laura Dawson, Haleigh Bartlett, Olivia Dillon, (Bartlett and Dillon have already qualified for NCAA Zones) and Corrin Van Lanen all have a chance at qualifying for the NCAA Championships. The NCAA Championships will take place on March 17 in Atlanta.
Komisarz-Baugh said Dawson will be competing against a swimmer from Akron who has the potential to qualify for NCAA's in the backstroke event, so Dawson will have a good idea of where she stands after the event.
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Komisarz-Baugh said it would take Van Lanen's best performance. Van Lanen has placed first in eight freestyle events this season.
A few weeks ago, Van Lanen said her freshman class "will win a MAC championship" when talking about her big-picture goals. This week, they will get their first crack at it.
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