Akron claimed victory in a travel meet against Ohio on Friday, 167-133. Akron is now 3-0 in conference competition.
Akron:
Results (PDF)
ATHENS, Ohio – The Akron swimming and diving team went in to Athens, Ohio and came out on top 167-133 against the Bobcats Friday evening.
Akron improves to 3-0 in Mid-American Conference meets and Ohio drops to 0-3 and 0-2 in the MAC.
“We knew we would be in for a battle tonight as Ohio has a strong program, full of tough competitors. I think we did a good job moving from one event to the next and not letting a good or bad performance affect the next one,” said head coach Brian Peresie. “As we get farther and farther into the season, we keep pushing harder and harder with our training. I think we are doing everything we need to be doing to set us up to be at our best in February and March.”
The Zips 400 medley relay team of junior Luka Szynal (Lublin, Poland), sophomore Paloma Marrero Munoz(Merida, Spain), senior Erin Seiler (Phoenixville, Pa.) and freshman Ragen Engel (Springfield, Ohio) opened up the afternoon with a first place finish in a time of 3:48.58. The teams’ time was the eighth fastest time in the program.
Akron finished in the top two spots in the 100 backstroke. Sznyal swam the 100 back in a time of 56.59 for first place and freshman Sadie Fazekas (Windsor, Ontario) followed up closely in 57.73.
In the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Marrero Munoz took first place in each event 1:05.06 in the 100 and 2:20.14 in the 200. Sophomore Kristen Vargas (Baltimore, Md.) also placed second in both the 100 (1:07.79) and the 200 (2:24.89).
Seiler placed first in both of the butterfly events. She was the lone Zip in the 200 butterfly to crack to the top three with a first place finish (2:05.28) and the in the 100 fly swam a 55.36.
Engel had a strong day with a first place finish in the 100 freestyle (51.75). Her time was also the eighth fastest in program history. She also finished second in the 50 free (23.85), along with her first place medley finish.
On the boards, the duo of senior Alice Hottensmith (Brunswick, Ohio) and junior Paige Kelkenberg (Lockport, N.Y.) were the top two divers for the Zips. Hottensmith finished first in the one-meter (267.60) and second in the three-meter (312.75). Kelkenberg totaled a score of 245.67 in the one-meter for second place and 288.57 in the three-meter for third place.
Akron ended the meet the same way they began, with a first place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The relay team of Engel, senior Hannah Raspopovich (Crown Point, Ind), Fazekas and sophomore Susan Franz (Canton, Ohio) touched first in a time of 1:35.11.
The Zips touched first nine times on the night, placed second 10 times, and finished in third place in eight events.
Akron returns to the pool to take part in the annual Magnus Cup invitational hosted by Cleveland State on Nov. 20-22.
Swimming news courtesy of Akron Swimming & Diving.
Ohio:
ATHENS, Ohio – Junior Laura Dawson won three events and freshman Ana Henderson won two as the Ohio women’s swimming and diving team opened up the home portion of its schedule on Friday, (Oct. 30), falling to reigning Mid-American Conference Champion Akron, 167-133.
“I’m very impressed with the way we swam today,” head coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh said. “Whenever you go up against the MAC champions it’s going to bring the emotion to it. They brought the emotion today. They brought spirit and they were determined. They keep on ranking us as a sixth place team, but we just came so close against the first place team. I think that shows just how much fun this MAC Championships is going to be in February.”
In the first event of the evening, the 400-yard medley relay, the Ohio ‘A’ team of Dawson (Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eng.), freshman Mackenzie Hornstra (Naperville, Ill.), junior Carrie Dukes (Monkton, Md.) and freshman Corrin Van Lanen (Green Bay, Wis.) finished in second place with a final time of 3:53.52. The Ohio ‘B’ team of sophomore Caroline Raley (Mobile, Ala.), redshirt senior Kelse Johnson (Centennial, Colo), sophomoreElena Patz (Waunakee, Wis.) and sophomore Katie Lemen (Carmel, Ind.) placed fourth, coming in at 4:00.58.
In the next event, The Bobcats swept the podium in the 1,000-yard freestyle with Henderson (Danville, Calif.) finishing in first with a final time of 10:27.66, redshirt senior Bianca Hauzer (Bedfordview, South Africa) in second (10:31.68) and redshirt senior Stephanie Gyurke (Bellevue, Ohio) rounding out the top three, finishing with a final of 10:37.74.
Dawson won the next event, the 200-yard freestyle with a final time of 1:52.14. Junior Josie Barker (Richmond, N.Yorkshire, Eng.) placed third, touching in at 1:55.84 and freshman Kimberly Zehnder finished in fourth place with a final of 1:56.11.
Senior Haley Clark (College Station, Texas) finished third in the 100-yard backstroke, touching in at 58.46. Honrotra placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a final of 1:08.11 and teammate senior Ariel Hodges (Warren, Mich.) finished fourth, finishing the race in 1:08.87.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Patz finished second, finishing in 2:07.24, freshman Maddie Wyke (Columbus, Ind.) finished third (2:08.50) and freshman Emily Davis (Lexington, Ky.) finished in fourth place, finishing the race in 2:08.69.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Van Lanen won her third-straight 50-yard freestyle, finishing the race in 23.51. Senior Addison Ferguson (Westfield Center, Ohio) placed fifth, finishing with a time of 24.47.
In the next event, the 100-yard freestyle, Van Lanen continued to show speed in the sprints, placing second with a final time of 51.76. Meanwhile, teammate Clark finished fourth in 53.47.
In the 10th event of the evening, Dawson placed first in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing with a final time of 2:00.57. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Gyurke finished in third place, touching in at 2:26.31 and Hornstra finished in fourth place with a final time of 2:26.37.
In the 500-yard freestyle, the Bobcats swept the podium once again, with Henderson winning her second event of the evening, finishing with a final time of 5:06.83. Haurzer finished the race in second place (5:09.18) and Barker finished in third place with a final of 5:10.16.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Dukes finished third, touching the wall with a final time of 56.60. Ferguson finished in fourth place (56.76) and Patz placed fifth with a final time of 57.91.
After a diving break, Dawson entered the water for the 200-yard IM, finishing the event in 2:05.78 and her third first-place finish of the night. Gyurke would finish the event in fourth place with a final time of 2:10.00.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, final event of the evening, the Ohio ‘A’ Team of Ferguson, Clark, Barker and Van Lanen would finish in second place with a final time of 1:35.38.
In 3-meter diving, redshirt senior Haleigh Bartlett (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) finished with a final score of 317.10 and a first-place finish. Sophomore Karrisa Conner (Granite Bay, Calif.) finished fifth, finishing the event with a final score of 182.85. In the 1-meter event, Bartlett would finish in fourth place (232.35) and Conner would finish fifth with a score of 192.67.
“For them to be swimming such strong times right now is really impressive.” Komisarz-Baugh said. “We lifted weights yesterday morning. They’re sore and they’re tired. The next couple of weeks we are going to give them some rest going into our midseason invite to give the muscles some time to rest. I’m really excited to see what they can do at our midseason invite and even through the rest of the season.”
After a week off, the Bobcats return to the pool on Friday, Oct. 13 when Ohio hosts Marshal. The meet is set to begin at 5 p.m. inside the Ohio University Aquatic Center.
Swimming news courtesy of Ohio Swimming & Diving.
