The Miami University (OH) RedHawk women were able to make their Senior Day extra special with a decisive win over visiting MAC-rival University of Toledo. Miami carried all but five events on their way to a winning score of 197 to the Rockets’ 103 at Nixon Aquatic Center yesterday.
Miami started and ended the meet with relay wins, as the squad of Brittany Dudzinski, Stephanie Lemire, Katie Kuhl and Annie Marquiss combined for a first place time in the 400y medley relay of 3:49.65. The foursome of Elise Campbell, Natalie Rohr, Sara Krueger and Annie Marquiss also got the job done in the meet- concluding 400y freestyle relay in a collective time of 3:30.14.
RedHawk sophomore Stephanie LeMire contributed to her team’s point-scoring effort by sweeping the breaststroke events. LeMire clocked a 1:30.20 in the 100y race and touched the wall in 2:17.31 to top the field in the 200y distance. Freshman teammate Holly Schuster finished in 2:20.07 in that 200y race to give Miami a 1-2 point-damaging finish.
Miami also cleared a 1-2 finish in the 1650y freestyle, led by senior Stephanie Pearce in a time of 17:20.33, followed by teammate Shay Spelman’s 17:28.26 for second place. A 1-2 finish was also the name of the RedHawk game in the 100y freestyle event, with Natalie Rohr earning the top spot in 51.99 and teammate Annie Marquiss directly behind with a time of 52.22 for second place.
A trio of women were able to take that RedHawk point attack one step further by sweeping the top three spots in the 200y IM. Schuster touched first in 2:05.99, with Lemire as runner-up in 2:06.31 and Aubrey Kluth rounding out the top three in 2:09.70.
It was not, however, only the Miami inflicting the point pain over the course of the meet; several key Rocket women were able to tackle the RedHawk momentum and make their mark on the meet. Toledo Junior Lauren Comer came away with two individual event victories yesterday, winning the 200y freestyle (1:53.50) and 500y freestyle (5:03.24) events.
The butterfly races were swept by Toledo freshman Katrin Streicher, who clocked a 57.41 and 2:06.43 in the 100y and 200y distances, respectively. Senior Maria Bargardi was also able to walk away with a Rocket win, topping the filed in the 200y backstroke in a time of 2:02.58.
Up next on February 7th, the Miami RedHawks move on to Athens, Ohio to face Ohio University for their last dual meet of the season. On that same date, Toledo hosts Ball State to mark the Rockets’ senior day and their final home meet of the season.
