Ohio State Hosts Pitt for Senior Night

Courtesy: Ohio State Athletics

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State swimming & diving team hosts the first home meet of 2019 against Pitt on Friday, Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Prior to the meet, the Buckeyes will honor 12 seniors competing at their home pool for the last dual meet of the regular season. Three women’s and nine men’s members of the Ohio State swimming & diving team graduate from the team following this season.

Live results will be available at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. Admission is free to the meet. Fans who are unable to attend are encouraged to follow the action live on Twitter @OhioStSwimDive. The meet will be streamed live on Big Ten Network Plus (btn2go.com).

MEET SCHEDULE

200 Medley Relay           75 Freestyle

600 Freestyle                    125 Backstroke

125 Freestyle                    125 Breaststroke

75 Backstroke                  300 Freestyle

75 Breaststroke               75 Butterfly

125 Butterfly                    Break (10 minutes)

25 Freestyle                      175 Individual Medley

Break (20 minutes)         200 Freestyle Relay

LAST TIME OUT

The Buckeyes competed at the Shamrock Invitational last weekend, hosted by Notre Dame at the Rolfs Aquatic Center in Notre Dame, Ind., on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 25-26.

The men’s team won the Invitational, finishing first with a total of 1,397 points, ahead of No. 23 Notre Dame (826.5), Iowa (780.5) and Missouri State (407). The women’s team placed third out of four teams, scoring 873.5 points. No. 19 Notre Dame was first with 1,191.5 points and Akron finished second with 960.5. The Buckeyes finished ahead of conference foe Iowa, which scored 434.5 points.

OSU took home 12 event titles, including four relay wins, a diving win and seven individual swimming victories. Teo Chavez and Josef Pohlmann both won their first events of the season, in the 50 Free and 100 Fly, respectively. The team also picked up 32 new career-best times and 47 season bests.

WEEKLY HONORS

Freshman Jacob Fielding was named Big Ten Diver of the Week on Jan. 8, marking his fourth weekly honor this season. Against Florida and Kentucky, Fielding won the 1-Meter and Platform titles. His platform score of 374.85 is the sixth-best mark in the nation and third-best in the conference. Fielding has won six titles overall this season and has placed in the Top Two in at least one event every time out.

Freshman Ruslan Gaziev was named Freshman of the Week on Oct. 3 after winning his first two individual races as a Buckeye, posting a 50 Free time of 20.19 and a 100 Free time of 43.79.

BUCKEYE LEADERS

Kathrin Demler leads the women’s team in four events, including the No. 9 400 IM time in all of college swimming at 4:07.06. Kowal leads the distance events, posting team-best times in the 500 Free, 100 Free and 1650 Free. Senior Lara Tarvit is the top diver on platform, ranking sixth in the conference with a score of 265.35.

Gaziev is the top sprinter on the men’s side, posting team-best times in the 50 Free, 100 Free and 200 Free. Nick Hogsed is consistently the top finisher in the distance events, currently fourth in the 1000 Free out of conference swimmers. Ohio State has three divers in the Big Ten’s Top 10 on Platform and 3-Meter.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS

In its last time out, Pitt hosted the Western Pennsylvania Invitational, downing Clarion and Carnegie Mellon. Three new school records were set at the meet, two of which involved sophomore Blaise Vera. Vera notched a 50 Free time of 19.55 while helping the men’s 200 Free Relay team to a program-best time of 1:19.52. Junior Madelyn Shaffer also lowered her own school record in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:58.14.

UP NEXT
Ohio State hosts the Winter Invitational on Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 16-17 at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.