Dec. 3, 2010
AKRON, Ohio - Standout performances across the board, highlighted by a pool record from the Bobcats' 200 Freestyle Relay team, helped put Ohio swimming and diving in first place after the first day of competition at the Zippy Invitational Friday.
The `Cats lead the women's team standings with 541 points, while host Akron is second with 350 points. Illinois State is third with 334, followed by Buffalo (325.5), Clarion (295), Duquesne (257) and Xavier (211.5) in fourth through seventh, respectively. Shippensburg (184), Indiana University of Pennsylvania (148), St. Bonaventure (97), Bloomsburg (71) and Niagra (70) rounded out the standings.
Ohio's 200 Freestyle Relay squad of Annie Donovan (Findlay, Ohio), Katey Brooks (North Royalton, Ohio), Abby Corcoran (Tucson, Ariz.) and Lauren Funk (Springfield, Ohio) made a splash to start the day's events, swimming their way to a pool record in 1:32.92 at the Ocasek Natatorium. The `Cats' B team of Kristyn Repke (Cary, N.C.), Rachel Heim (San Diego, Calif.), Amanda Cecere (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Amanda Traylor (Los Alamitos, Calif.) came in fourth at 1:35.97.
Senior Stacey Huber (Gainesville, Fla.) turned in a solid showing in the 500 Free, coming in second with a season-best 4:58.20, the second-best time in the Mid-American Conference this season. Annika Games (Brea, Calif.) was ninth overall at 5:00.58.
A trio of Bobcats placed in the top 10 of the 200 Individual Medley. Anastasia Bocharnikova (Nizhny Tagil, Russia) continued her strong freshman campaign, coming in third with a season-best 2:07.26. Classmate Rachel Stearns (Minnetonka, Minn.) came in ninth overall at 2:07.63, shaving a full 2.40 seconds off her time in the preliminaries, while Cecere was 10th at 2:08.00.
Four Ohio swimmers finished in the top 11 of the 50 Free. Donovan led the performances in first place with a season- and MAC-Best 23.14, just outtouching Clarion's Kaitlyn Johnson (23.20) in an exciting race. Funk, Corcoran and Brooks came in ninth through 11th at 23.60, 23.86 and 23.99, respectively.
Hamilton (White City, Saskatchewan) continued her solid season on the boards, easily taking first place with a MAC-best 295.90. Freshman Alexa Gordish (North Canton, Ohio) came in eighth at 216.75.
Ohio's 400 Medley Relay A team of Bocharnikova, Petra Chomicz (Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England), Heim and Donovan swam to a second-place showing with a 3:49.38, the second-fastest time in the MAC thus far. The `Cats' B team of Stearns, Brooks, Cecere and Corcoran came in sixth at 3:54.80.
Action will resume Saturday morning at 9 a.m. with the prelims of the 400 Individual Medley.
