Feb. 7, 2009
YPSILANTI, Mich. - In a battle of the Mid-American Conference's last two champions, the Ohio University swimming and diving team prevailed with a 175-119 win at Eastern Michigan Saturday afternoon in Jones Natatorium. The Bobcats (9-3, 4-3 MAC) finished their dual season riding a four-meet winning streak, while handing the Eagles (7-4, 5-2 MAC) their first dual-meet loss at home this year and snapping EMU's three-meet win streak.
Ohio claimed 10 of the 16 events, including both relays, en route to knocking off Eastern Michigan for the second-straight season.
"I thought we competed very, very well and worked out a lot of kinks we had identified going into the MAC Championships," Ohio head coach Greg Werner said. "One of the things we talked about was taking advantage of this last opportunity to improve things before the Championships and I felt like we did that."
The 'Cats opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay as senior Carine Souza (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), junior Allison Schaefer (Medina, Ohio), sophomore Amanda Cecere (Chelmsford, Mass.) and junior Chelsey Bower (Bethel Park, Pa.) clocked in at 1:46.63. Bower and Souza were also on Ohio's winning 400 free relay team that closed the meet in 3:29.22, with freshman Sarah Owen (Portsmouth, England) and sophomore Rachel Heim (San Diego, Calif.) rounding out the relay squad.
Bower totaled three wins in the meet, as she also took the 50 free in 23.80. Heim also earned three victories, touching first in the 100 back in 57.96 and the 100 fly in 56.66. Owen grabbed second in the 100 back (58.01), while Cecere was third in the 100 fly (57.64). Heim was also runner-up in the 100 free in 52.10, while Bower took third in 52.32.
Cecere tallied an individual win of her own in the 200 fly in 2:05.00, while junior Caitlin Drozin (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) swam a personal-best 2:10.47 in the event. Owen also had a first-place showing, stopping the clock first in the 200 back in 2:04.81, with senior Ashley Marion (London, Ont.) one spot behind in 2:06.36. Marion had another runner-up finish in the 200 free in 1:52.00.
The senior would not go winless however, as Marion cruised to a victory in the 400 individual medley in an Ohio season-best and MAC-best 4:27.41. Freshman Petra Chomicz (King's Lynn, England) finished second in the IM in 4:31.05 and was the Bobcats' top finisher in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke, including taking second in the 200 in a personal-best and an Ohio season-best 2:20.90, the seventh-fastest time in Ohio history.
Sophomore Amanda Traylor (Los Alamitos, Calif.) hit the wall first in the 1650 free in 17:19.76, while sophomore Stella Johnson (Jacksonville, Fla.) claimed second in 17:40.15. Ohio earned the top three spots in the 500 free, as sophomore Stacey Huber (Gainesville, Fla.) was first in 5:05.45, while Traylor was second in 5:07.17 and freshman Kristen Witham (Fort Wayne, Ind.) third in 5:08.11.
On the boards, junior Lindsay Hamilton (White City, Sask.) dove to second on the one-meter, while fellow junior Amy Bromberg (Deerfield, Ill.) finished third. The two swapped places in three-meter diving, as Bromberg was second and Hamilton third.
The Bobcats have two and a half weeks off to prepare to defend their 2008 MAC Championship, when Ohio will travel to Bowling Green, Ohio, where the 2009 MAC Championships will be held from Feb. 25-28 at Bowling Green's Cooper Pool.
