The women of Eastern Michigan remain unbeaten in the MAC, after a commanding 223 – 77 win against last seasons MAC champions. Akron, with 21 returning letter-winners from last years conference championship team, were no match for the hosts, with the Eagles winning 14 of 16 events, and sweeps of the top three places in five of those events.
Eastern Michigan started, and ended, the meet with victories. In the 200 medley relay, Mary Kate MacLean, Genna Worthley, Carly Jackson, and Sara Ghaffari touched the wall in 1:44.77. MacLean, and Ghaffari, along with Alexis Mitcheltree, and Abby Saddler, then went on to close the meet with a win the 400 free relay in 3:31.74.
The Eagles won every freestyle event, starting with the 1,000 free. Junior Audra Burtch took first with a time of 10:29.56, just beating out sophomore teammate Allison Murslack. Ghaffari, the senior from Sweden, won the 50 free in 23.90, and teammate Becca Detro took command in the 100 and 200 free events with wins in both. Her 100 free winning time of 52.45 was just enough to take the win from Akron’s Kelsey Ferrante who touched in 52.72. Detro’s 200 free time of 1:51.22 was then followed by teammates Grace Van Allen in second (1:52.90), and Sierra Wagner in third (1:54.36).
Ludwika Szynal, the Akron sophomore, was the victor in both the 100 and 200 backstroke events. Her 100 backstroke time 56.64 put her ahead of Eagle Mitcheltree (57.59) and her 200 backstroke effort of 2:02.21 put her once again of Mitcheltree who was second again in 2:04.90. Not to be outdone, Eastern Michigan took the top three spots in both the breaststroke events. In the 100 breaststroke, the Eagles rolled with Monica Dorszewski touching first in 1:05.14, Emily Wimmer taking second in 1:05.39, and Worthley taking third with a 1:05.69 effort. The trio then moved on to the 200 breaststroke where they replicated their finishes. Dorszewski won the event in 2:20.48, Wimmer was second in 2:23.85, and Worthley wrapped up the third spot with a 2:24.51.
The Eagles also swept 1-meter diving. Freshman Rebecca Deacon took the top spot with 282.75 points. Shen was followed by Lauren Dark in second with 272.25 points, and Melynee Saya in third with 260.25 points. In the 3-meter event, Saya took top honors with 298.65 points, and Dark took second again with 293.70 points. Zip junior Alice Hottensmith was third in the 3-meter competition with 268.35 points.
The Eastern Michigan ‘B’ squad of Mitcheltree, Saddler, MacLean, and Ghaffari took the win in the final event of the day. They won the 400 free relay in 3:31.74, just out-touching the Eagle ‘A’ squad of Wagner, Detro, Makenzie Garringer, and Jackson, who touched second in 3:31.99.
There’s no time to rest for either team. The 2 – 0 Eagles next host The Bobcats from Ohio University in an afternoon match up on November 1st. The Zips next dual meet is also on November 1st, when they travel to Muncie, IN to face Ball State in their first meeting with the Cardinals since October 27, 2012.
Looks like the EMU ladies are going to be big players at the MAC meet this year
Remember….It’s not how you start… It’s how you finish.
You must not know Peter Linn’s history very well. Eastern always finishes strong. If they’re starting this well they could surprise people this year.