2 Ohio State Women, 1 Oakland Woman Book NCAA Tickets at Buckeye Last Chance

Ohio State Last Chance Meet – Women’s

• February 27, 2022
• Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Results

Ohio State hosted a compact, one-day Last Chance meet for women only on Sunday, and a handful of likely new NCAA Invite times came out.

Today is the last day for female NCAA Division I swimmers to post times for invite consideration to the NCAA Championships, which run from March 16-20 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Traditionally, between 36 and 40 swimmers qualify for the Women’s NCAA Championships in each individual event.

That includes a few Buckeyes who solidified their spots.

Sophomore Catherine Russo swam 51.92 in the 100 fly, which undercut her previous best time of 52.36. That launches her from 47th in the country this season to 25th and locks in a return to the NCAA Championships. Last year, she finished 54th at NCAAs in the 50 free and 45th in the 100 fly.

Ohio State sophomore Janesa Matthews wasn’t able to improve her standing enough in the 100 breaststroke, though she did post a best time of 59.90. The 200 breaststroke, though, told a different story.

After a best time of 2:09.28 at Big Tens, where she was a non-scoring swimmer, she swam 2:08.30 on Sunday. That jumps her from 43rd in the event to 25th and should earn her an invite to NCAAs.

She’s one of at least two swimmers who were on Ohio State’s non-scoring roster at Big Tens who will earn NCAA Invites: Nyah Funderburke ranks 16th in the country with a non-scoring 100 back at Big Tens.

Ohio State wasn’t the only team that came away with a new qualification on Sunday: Susan LaGrand of Oakland University swam 1:53.66 in the 200 backstroke. That undercuts her 1:53.93 from the Horizon League Championships last weekend.

There is a logjam of NCAA 1:53s, so that .27 seconds drop jumps her from 39th in the NCAA, which is squarely on the bubble, to 31st, which is just-shy of a lock, but is very, very good position to return to NCAAs.

Last year, Lagrand finished 16th in the 200 back at NCAAs, which marked just the third time that Oakland had scored at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.

Penn State’s Marie Schobel also improved her NCAA qualifying chances in the 100 back. Schobel swam 52.25 at Big Tens, and while she dropped only to 52.22, that moves her from 35th into a tie for 34th. 34 is not a guarantee to go to NCAAs, pending results of other last chance meets, but that one spot dramatically improves her position.

Also of note, Florida Gulf Coast’s Petra Halmai swam 2:10.60 in the 200 breaststroke, which was slower than her CCSA time of 2:09.78. The 5th year senior qualified for each of the last two NCAA Championship meets, and last year placed 11th in the 200 breaststroke there, but she doesn’t have a cut this year.