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Futures-level backstroker Melanie Schweikert of Countryside YMCA has verbally committed to Ohio University for the fall of 2023. She will be moving slightly northeast from her hometown of Maineville, Ohio to Athens, Ohio, about 2 hours away.
“I’m very excited to announce that I have committed to continue my swimming and my academic career at Ohio University. Thank you to all my family, friends, and coaches for your support in helping me get to where I am today. I can’t wait to join the team in Athens! GO BOBCATS!!😺🐾💚 🤍#ouohyeah”
In April, she dropped lifetime-best times in the 200 back and 100 free at the YMCA Short Course National Championships. Schweikert, a rising senior at Kings Mills High School, qualified for the 2022 OHSAA State Championships for Division I in February where she placed 19th in the 100 back. Her lifetime-best 100 back time is from a week earlier when she blasted a 57.63 to claim 6th place at the 2022 Southwest Ohio District Championships.
Top SCY times:
- 200 back – 2:04.25
- 100 back – 57.63
- 50 back – 27.76
- 100 free – 53.21R
Her Futures qualifying times in the 100 and 200 backstroke would have placed her just outside of the B finals of both events at the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championships. Schweikert first broke the 2:05.00 mark in the 200 back in November 2021 when she posted a time of 2:04.86. This was her first Futures cut.
The Bobcats had two swimmers in the 200 back B final at last season’s MAC Championships: French Junior National Champion Athena Aravantinou, a graduate student, who placed 10th, and rising junior Riley Bunstine who took 16th place. Schweikert’s potential with Ohio looks promising – her current best 200 back time is half a second faster than Aravantinou’s season-best time as a freshman Bobcat.
While Aravantinou has used up her years of swimming eligibility, Schweikert is still joining experienced swimmers like Bunstine who has two more years. Bunstine also leads Ohio’s sprint backstroke crew. She swam a 25.97 on the leadoff of Ohio’s 200 medley relay which claimed 7th place at the 2022 MAC Championships. She followed that up by making the 100 back B final where she placed 16th overall.
Ohio women are coming off a 4th place finish at the 2022 MAC Conference Championships under head coach Mason Norman. Schweikert joins her fellow Ohio-native Ashley Sallows and Emma Lykins in Ohio’s class of 2027 verbal commitments.
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Ohio University is in Athens Ohio, so I doubt she will be moving to C-Bus.