Ohio State vs. Wright State Women

COLUMBUS, Ohio, January 9. OHIO State women's swimming and diving opened the 2009 portion of its dual meet season with a 177-109 win over Wright State Friday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. The Buckeyes improved to 4-0 with the win.

The meet featured a slightly different format, having both teams swim the shorter 50-, 100-, and 200-yard distances instead of the 100s, 200s, and 400s, simply as a change of pace for the swimmers.

Senior Griet Buelens and sophomore Samantha Cheverton led the way for the Buckeyes. Buelens captured wins in 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle and Cheverton won the 50 backstroke and the 400 individual medley.

"I thought we were ok," first-year Ohio State coach Bill Dorenkott said. "We finished the week better than we started. I thought we had a great training camp over the holiday break but we came back at the beginning of this week a little rough. I challenged the team to finish the week stronger than they started it and I think they did that. We have to get a whole lot better over the next six weeks, though."

Ohio State's 200-yard medley team started things off right as the quartet of Jill Lockhart, Catherine Eitel, Samantha Cheverton and Lisa Narum touched the wall first in a time of 1:46.31.

A trio of freshmen – Erin Fawley, Natalie Nichols and Catherine Eitel – had solid performances for the Buckeyes on the evening. Fawley, the Xenia native captured her first collegiate win in the 1000 freestyle after finishing in a season-best time of 10:23.92. Nichols picked up her second career win in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:53.80 and Eitel won the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.42.

"Erin, Catherine and Natalie had some nice swims, and of course Samantha continues to impress," Dorenkott said. "Griet also had a nice meet with a couple of wins."

Buckeye divers Katie Bell and Kristen Asman each finished the evening with a win. Asman took first on the one-meter springboard with 302.25 points, while Bell won the three-meter event with 293.48 points.

In the first 50-yard event of the evening, Cheverton and Lockhart took the top two spots in the 50 backstroke. The duo finished in times of 26.97 and 28.19, respectively. Other winners at the short distances included Junior Haley Mitchell – 50 freestyle (24.19); and
Courtney Brayman – 50 butterfly (26.60).

Buelens took first in the 100 butterfly in a time of 57.54 and in the 500 freestyle (5:01.17), while sophomore Anita Beck grabbed her first win in the 100 freestyle in 52.81.

The final event of the evening, the 400 freestyle relay, was won by the Ohio State team of Cheverton, Narum, Mitchell and Beck in 3:32.01.

Special thanks to Ohio State for contributing this report.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use