For the 3rd-straight weekend, the Bowling Green State women had a dual meet decided by 20-or-fewer points, and for the 3rd-straight weekend they walked away with a victory on Friday night in Athens with a win over Ohio University.
The winning score came out to 155-138, with the meets still well undecided headed into the final relay, and follows an 8-point win over Toledo a week ago and a 6-point win over Michigan State the week before that.
Both teams swam very well, trading blows for the bulk of the competition.
Bowling Green State won the 200 free relay to start the meet in 1:34.51, including a 23.46 anchor split. To show off their sprint depth a little bit, Brittany Szekely didn’t even make that A-relay (she led off the B) but still managed to win the 50 free individually in 23.88.
She was runner-up in the 100 behind freshman teammate Victoria Griffin, who was a 50.62 for a comfortable victory after some impressive splitting (24.51 – 26.11).
The Falcons also dominated the breaststroke races, with Daniela Carrillo (1:04.78/2:20.11) leading a 1-2-3 finish in both distances.
The Ohio women certainly had some bright spots of their own. Ohio sophomore Addy Ferguson won the 100 in 54.92. Not only is that a season-best for her, but it makes her the first swimmer in the MAC this season under 55 seconds and reaffirms her status as the favorite for the conference title. She was only 2nd last year as a freshman, but 5 of the top 7 in the league, including the defending champion, all graduated.
Ferguson didn’t win the 200 backstroke, but she did take 2nd behind teammate Rachel Stearns (2:03.03) as part of a Bobcat 1-4 finish. Bowling Green State was a little thin in that race, and left a free point on the table by only entering a single swimmer.
That’s similar to what happened in diving where Ohio took the top three spots on both boards, as Bowling Green State won’t add diving until next season.
Bowling Green State was 3rd in the conference last year and Ohio was 2nd, but this result will be a huge confidence boost for the Falcons headed into the conference meet. It’s also an indicator of just how badly the Falcons need diving – Ohio will have roughly an 80 point edge, even with no platform at the conference meet: which is a much more significant advantage than Ohio gets in a dual meet.
