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AKRON,
Ohio – Senior
Casadie DiBetta takes first in the 200-yard breaststroke for the third year in a row, and junior
Zita Szoke wins her second straight 100-yard freestyle, as the Ohio swim and dive team finished competition at the Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday (Feb. 28) at the Oliver J. Ocasek Natatorium on the campus of Akron. Ohio finished the Championships second overall with a score of 559.
Following the meet, DiBetta and Szoke were named First Team All-MAC, while freshman
Juliette Daigneault, senior
Emily Ellsworth, freshman
Katrina Kollin, and junior
Melanie Schweikert earned Second Team All-MAC honors.
Akron would take home the championship with a score of 771, while Ball State (500), Miami (492), Buffalo (446), Eastern Michigan (263), UMass (195), Toledo (174), and Bowling Green (159) would follow the Bobcats on the final leaderboard.
In the first event of the final day of competition, senior
Anna McGrath (Lewis Center, Ohio) would take fifth place overall in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:57.32. Kolllin (Dublin, Ohio) would finish ninth overall with a time of 17:05.08.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Schweikert (Maineville, Ohio) placed fourth with a time of 1:55.40. Sophomore
Juliana Slaninka (Mentor, Ohio) finished third in the consolation final, 11
th overall, with a time of 1:59.02, and freshman
Lily Baumgartner (Ada, Ohio) finished in fifth in the consolation final, 13
th overall, with a time of 1:59.19.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Szoke (Serbia, Bejec) punched another ticket to the 2026 NCAA Championships, winning her second consecutive MAC Championship in the event, finishing with a time of 47.59. Earlier in the preliminary round, Szoke set a new Ohio, MAC, Championship, and Akron Pool Record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.55. Daigneault (Scottsdale, Ariz.) would finish behind Szoke in sixth place overall with a time of 49.77. Freshman
Tori Wittenberg (Medford, N.J) would finish fifth in the consolation final, 13
th overall, with a time of 50.26.
DiBetta (St. Clairsville, Ohio) punches her first ticket to the NCAA Championships, winning her third consecutive 200-yard breaststroke championship with a time of 2:09.33, a new Ohio record. DiBetta is the first Bobcat breaststroke swimmer in 26 years to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships. Ellsworth (Westerville, Ohio) would finish in fifth place with a time of 2:13.71.
Ohio had two podium finishes in the 200-yard butterfly, with freshman
Jana Macik (Aldie, Va.) finishing in third place with a time of 1:58.75 and junior
Isabella Arbaugh (Ann Arbor, Mich.) finishing in seventh place with a time of 2:02.40.
Junior
Astrid Pichardo (Guanajuato, Mexico) placed seventh overall in 3-meter diving with an overall score of 261.10.
In the final event of the night, Ohio would take second place in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Wittenberg, Szoke, Daigneault, and junior
Jordan Claypoole (Parkersburg, W. Va.) would finish with a time of 3:16.66, setting a new Ohio record.
Up next, the Bobcats will head to the 2026 CSCAA National Invitational in Ocala, Fla., March 12-14. Those who qualify will head to the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships March 11-13. DiBetta and Szoke will head to the NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Ga. March 18-21.
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