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The competition opened with diving. Senior Morgan Srail (Avon, Ohio) and freshman Karrisa Conner (Granite Bay, Calif.) represented the Bobcats, with Srail winning the three-meter competition with a score of 304.05. She then took third in the one-meter competition with a score of 239.47.
"For a first meet, you don't really know what to expect," diving coach Russ Dekker said. "I thought they did a good job. Morgan [Srail] - I was thrilled that she won the three-meter. That's always a good feeling. Karrisa [Conner] really improved from what she's been doing. She was nervous, so it was nice to see her start to relax and dive a bit more like she does in practice."
After diving, the `Cats started off strong against the Buckeyes. The quartet of Laura Dawson (Newcastle Upon Tyne, Eng.), Tori Bagan (Roanoke, Ind.) Carrie Dukes (Monkton, MD), and Haley Clark (College Station, Texas) won the 400-yard medley relay, with a time of 3:47.55. Bianca Hauzer (Bedfordview, South Africa) followed suit, finishing second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:20.30.
The Buckeyes fought back, but junior Addison Ferguson (Westfield Center, Ohio) won first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.62, followed by freshman Caroline Raley (Mobile, Ala.) in third place with a 58.34. Tori Bagan then performed well for the Bobcats a second time, winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.75.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Dukes remained strong and took first with a time of 5.12; Clark then took third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.12.
Dawson took second-place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.48. Dawson then continued to remind the Buckeyes of whose pool they were in, taking another second-place finish in the 200- yard individual medley with a time of 2:06.57.
To complete their opening competition, the Ohio 200-yard freestyle relay team of Hauzer, Dukes, Liz Murphy (Western Springs, IL) and Clark finished third, with a time of 1:39.51.
"I think the girls showed a lot of heart," head coach Rachel Komisarz-Baugh said. "They swam tough and raced hard. Overall, I'm very pleased with their performances. We definitely had some highlights, and it definitely showed us where we have things to work on. I think this was a really good learning opportunity for us to move forward."
The Bobcats return to action Friday, Oct. 3 when they travel to Rochester, Mich. to partake in a tri-meet against Oakland and Youngstown State. Competition is set to begin at 6 p.m.
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