Ball State vs Ohio (W)
- Saturday, October 30, 2021
- Muncie, Ind.
- Results
Courtesy: Ohio Athletics
MUNCIE, Ind. — The Ohio swimming and diving team returned to the pool on Saturday, Oct. 30 with a dual against Ball State at the Lewellen Aquatic Center, with the Bobcats winning, 153-147.
“I am so proud of our team. It feels great to win and this group deserves it. We had an opportunity at the first break, being down, to see what kind of fight we had in us.” said head coach Mason Norman. “The second half of the meet went our way but we were still down before the free relay. In the end we found a way to win against a very well-coached team in Ball State. ”
The Bobcats were led by sophomore Gabrielle Brust (Granville, Ohio) and junior McKenzie Grau (Mason, Ohio) with two first place finishes. Brust took the top spots in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. Grau followed up with two of her own first place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle.
Following up on her second-place finish against Kentucky two weeks ago, sophomore Morgan Croaning (Carmel, Ind.) added another top two finish in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:31. She would follow up with a second-place place finish in the 400-yard individual medley and fifth place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.
After opening up the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, junior Athena Aravantinou (North Bethesda, Md.) started off the second half of the meet with a top finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.79.
An event later, redshirt junior Kelsey Morgan (Pickerington, Ohio) and freshman Julia Strine (Shippensburg, PA) claimed the top two spots with a time of 2:20.05 and 2:22.60 respectively in the 200-yard breaststroke.
In a close contest, the first place 400-yard freestyle relay of Grau, junior Emma Fortman (Madeira, Ohio), sophomore Caroline Dunigan (Lansdale, Pa.) and Brust sealed the win for the Bobcats. The time of 3:28.43 was three seconds faster than second place finisher Ball State.
The Bobcats will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Aquatic Center for a dual against Buffalo. The meet is set to start at 11 am.
Courtesy: Ball State Athletics
MUNCIE, Ind. – – In a down-to-the-wire finish, the Ball State women’s swimming & diving team fell just a few lengths short of a victory Saturday morning, suffering a 153-147 setback to Ohio at the Lewellen Aquatic Center.
Coming off a late-night win at Eastern Illinois Friday, the Cardinals (1-1) traveled back to Muncie to give a fresh Bobcats (1-1) squad all they could handle in Saturday’s home opener. In fact, Ball State would claim victory in nine of the 16 total events, led by a pair of individual wins each from sophomore freestyle specialist Marcella Ribeiro and freshman diver Ashleigh Provan.
“Today, we responded really well,” head coach J. Agnew said. “It was a tough road trip yesterday, but you’re getting ready for a seven-session MAC Championship at the end of the year, so they need to have some adversity. I thought they stood up to the test, raced their guts out, and swam really well. I’m really proud of them.”
The Cardinals started the meet strong, taking top honors in the 200 medley relay, with junior Shelby Crist, senior Alex Bader, freshman Abby Hartshorne and junior Apsara Sakbun combining for a time of 1:44.76.
Ribeiro would make it two straight event wins, taking home top honors in the longest event of the day with a time of 10:28.15 in the 1000 freestyle. Later in the meet, Ribeiro would claim victory in the 500 freestyle with a clocking of 5:04.34.
Provan would go on to make her mark, and then some, in the well by sweeping the diving events in her Lewellen competition debut. In fact, her 1-meter score of 276.00 was an NCAA Zone Diving cut and 37.05 points ahead of second-place. She was just as dominant on the 3-meter board, with her score of 272.63 winning by 34.58 points.
“Ashleigh is really focused, but she’s also good at keeping things in perspective,” Agnew said. “She has a really balanced approach, very professional about what she does. She works her tail off, but also can relax and enjoy the sport. It’s pretty fun to watch.”
Back in the pool, in addition to helping lead the 200 medley relay to victory, Bader would win the 100 breaststroke (1:04.65) and Sakbun would claim the top spot in the 50 freestyle (23.58).
Freshman Hannah Jones added a win in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in 57.57 in the meet’s fourth event, while sophomore Sophia Kuehn picked up a huge win in the 400 individual medley (4:34.14), giving Ball State a three-point lead entering the final event.
Unfortunately, the Bobcats would end the meet with a Lewellen Aquatic Center record time of 3:28.43 to win the 400 freestyle relay and claim the overall victory.
Despite the loss, it was a major improvement for the Cardinals, who suffered a 188.5-110.5 loss to the Bobcats in the last regular season meeting between the two clubs on Jan. 25, 2020.
“Everybody knows we are in this together,” Agnew added. “We have a lot of support and a lot of excitement in this program. Everybody know we are moving forward at a pretty quick pace. To feel that energy from the crown, from the guys, from their teammates, it gives everybody a vote of confidence that we’re in this together.”
Up next for the Ball State women’s swimming & diving program, a Noon competition at Toledo on Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Student Recreation Center Pool.
