Ohio is set to begin competition at the MAC Championships in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Wednesday.
Ohio has had an impressive run at the Mid-American Conference Championships, finding itself among the top three teams during eight of the last nine years.
After a coaching change was made before last season, however, the Bobcats finished in sixth place out of eight teams last year — their worst finish since the first-ever MAC Championships in 1981.
Now, under first-year coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh, the identity of competing as a team is coming together again and she believes the Bobcats will turn some heads when the MAC Championships kick off Thursday in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Komisarz-Baugh has experienced success working with teams and developing swimmers’ bodies at other schools she’s stopped at, where they were ready to finish with their best performances.
“During the last eight weeks what we do is called our taper phase, this is a rest phase for us where we work on fine tuning our skills and generating more power,” Komisarz-Baugh said.
She added that with rest and change of pace, swimmers’ muscles are able to relax a bit, and with that rest can “fire” or perform faster. This tapering program is common for these athletes, but some of the swimmers aren’t used to doing the tapers in Komisarz-Baugh’s way. Still, junior Bianca Hauzer believes the program is working,
“It works for most people, as we have seen throughout the season,” Hauzer said. “This time around I have decided to do a different taper, a little bit longer and right now I feel like I am heading in the right direction. I feel like everything is going to come together at the last moment when it needs to.”
Changes in the workouts and being in Athens all of February has helped give Ohio more time to focus on what it needs to make the impact its are hoping for at the MAC Championships.
Confidence is running high for the Bobcats, especially in the team’s strongest event this season, the medley relays, currently swam by junior Addison Ferguson, senior Tori Bagan, sophomore Laura Dawson and freshman Liz Murphy
“They definitely are studs. I don’t think we have seen everything that relay can do, I think they are going to shock and awe once we get to MACs,” Komisarz-Baugh.
Ohio will have to tackle the challenge of only having one diver in the field, freshman Karissa Conner, but the team has been handling this adversity throughout the season. And because they’re only allowed to field 18 athletes, Komisarz-Baugh believes that the playing field has been a little bit more leveled.
After a disappointing performance last season compared to past results, the Bobcats are striding to return to the podium during the three-day meet.
“With all this rest my body doesn’t know what to do with the extra energy is why I am really looking forward to racing, My goal is to go in have fun, be relaxed and see what I can do,” Hauzer said.
@PaulHolden33
ph553412@ohio.edu
