ATHENS, Ohio. – The Ohio swimming and diving team will hit the road for the first time this 2018-19 regular season on Friday, Oct. 19, where they will travel to Huntington, W. Va to battle the Marshall Thundering Herd. The meet is set to begin at 5 p.m. at Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium.
"The team is excited for our first travel meet of the season," said first-year head coach Mason Norman. "We have been hard at work in Athens since the season began and this will be the first time we see what our girls are made of on the road. Marshal is a solid group who came to our pool last year and came away with a win so are team is aware of that heading in the meet."
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
The Bobcats opened up their 2018-19 season in Athens, Ohio after battling Mid-American Conference foe, Miami, in their 2018-19 season opener that resulted in a loss, 171-132, for the Bobcats (0-1, 0-1 MAC). Event winners for the meet included senior swimmer, Corrin Van Lanen (Green Bay, Wis.), junior swimmer, Emilia Lahtinen (Ylojarvi, Finland), senior diver, Nicole Hughes(Cleveland, Ohio), and sophomore swimmer, Samantha Glass (Villa Hills, Ky.)
Event Winners
50-yard freestyle: Corrin Van Lanen; 23:94
100-yard freestyle: Corrin Van Lanen; 52.80
200-yard breaststroke: Emilia Lahtinen; 2:20.75
100-yard butterfly: Corrin Van Lanen; 55.90
3-meter diving: Nicole Hughes; 237.22
400-yard IM: Samantha Glass; 4:26.62
SCOUTING MARSHALL
Ohio swim and dive travel to Marshall as they are coming off a finish second to the West Virginia Mountaineers at the West Virginia Games (Oct. 12-13) with an overall score of 1085.5. Teams' finishing behind the Herd were West Virginia Wesleyan College, Davis & Elkins College, Fairmont State University, Salem University and West Virginia Tech. Highlighting the Herd efforts in their opening weekend were Catherine Bendziewicz, Maddie Young, Caroline Wanner and Oda Gjerde. On day one, Bendziewicz was second in the 200-yard IM, Wanner was third in the 200-yard IM, and Young placed second in the 3-meter diving event. On day two of the West Virginia Games, Gierde finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke and was accompanied by a recorded second and third place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay for the Herd.
LAST TIME AGAINST THE THUNDERING HERD
The Bobcats last dual against Marshall was in the 2016-17 season where Ohio fell to the Herd, 173-127, at Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium on Dec. 2, 2016. The meet concluded with Ohio winning two first-place finishes and one second-place dive finish in the one-meter event.
Swim Event Winners for Ohio
50-yard freestyle: Corrin Van Lanen; 24.15
100-yard freestyle: Corrin Van Lanen; 51.54
Dive Event Runner Up for Ohio
1-meter dive event: Olivia Dillon; 249.83
MASON NORMAN ERA BEGINS
Head coach Mason Norman begins his first season at the helm of the Ohio swimming and diving team. Norman, a native of Duluth, Ga., competed as a student-athlete at Wingate, accumulating 22 All-American honors, a spot on the NCAA Division II national championship 400 free relay team in 2010 and competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 100-meter freestyle. Entering his coaching career, Norman was a graduate assistant before being promoted to interim assistant coach at the University of Tennessee proceeded on to a short time at Utah before he joined the Kentucky staff, where he spent his previous five years, his final year as the associate head coach.
Britni Fisher begins her stint as the new diving coach, while Carlye Ellis begins her time as the new assistant swim and coach. Fisher, a former diver at Illinois, spent two years as a graduate assistant at Bryant prior to joining the Ohio staff. Fisher's second season at Bryant saw the women's swimming and diving program capture the NEC Championship crown for the first time in program history. She currently holds the Illinois school records for the one-meter (298.27) and three-meter (319.65) springboards and maintains the third highest platform score (162.80). Fisher is a four-time varsity letter winner, a four-time Illini Outstanding Diver of the Year and qualified for the NCAA Zone Championships.
Ellis, a Texas four-time varsity letter winner, two-time NCAA Division I All-American and Big 12 champion, spent three years as the assistant swimming and diving coach at Cornell prior to joining Ohio's staff. In just three seasons, Ellis helped Cornell swimmers rewrite the school's record book setting new school records in more than 10 individual events and in three relay events. Additionally, Cornell posted 70 times that rank among the top 10 all-time fastest swims along with three relay records and 22 other times that have joined the list.
RETURNERS
Ohio returns seniors Emily Davis (Lexington, Ky.), Olivia Dillon (Newcastle, Aus.), Ana Henderson (Danville, Calif.), Mackenzie Hornstra (Naperville, Ill.), Nicole Hughes (Cleveland, Ohio), Emily Ortner (Concord, Calif.), Corrin Van Lanen (Green Bay, Wis.), Lexie White (Waxhaw, N.C.), and Maddie Wyke (Columbus, Ind.).
This year's junior class of returners consists of Mackenzie Caruthers (Hilliard, Ohio), Annie Gosselin (Naperville, Ill.), Emilia Lahtinen (Ylojarvi, Finland), Ireland Littlejohn (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Katherine Redden (Fort Thomas, Ky.), and Ryleigh Tuck-Macalla (Bay Village, Ohio).
Sophomores include: Carolyn Bischoff (New Hudson, Mich.), Katherine Garrity (Eagan, Minn.), Samantha Glass (Villa Hills, Ky.), Abigail Jordan (West Chester, Ohio), Katelyn O'Brien (Williams Bay, Wis.), and Hannah Schlegel (Birdsboro, Pa.).
NEWCOMERS
Ohio welcomes eight freshmen to the roster to begin the season. Athena Aravantinou (Bethesda, Md.), Madison Haschemeyer (Springfield, Ill.), Taylor Miller (Latrobe, Pa.), Madeline Kenyon (Dayton, Ohio), Rebekah Klem (Columbiana, Ohio), Kelsey Morgan (Pickerington, Ohio), Chloe Pace (Naperville, Ill.) and Kendra Sheehan (Columbus, Ohio), will all make their collegiate debut for Ohio this season.
Ohio also welcomes two transfer junior's Chastity Haxton (Englewood, Fla.) and Courtney Perrett (Durban, South Africa), both coming to Ohio from Indian River State College in Florida.
UP NEXT
After the conclusion of this meet, the Bobcats will play host for their second Mid-American Conference match-up on Saturday, Nov. 3rd at the Ohio University Aquatics Center where they will face the Eagles of Eastern Michigan. The meet start time is to be determined.
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