AKRON, Ohio, February 23. OHIO Swimming and Diving completed the first day of the 2012 Mid-American Conference Championships on Thursday, ending up in first place with 239 total team points. The Bobcats didn't win any events outright in the first day of competition, but Ohio did collect three second-place finishes, two third-place finishes and one fourth-place finish to earn an impressive team score.<\/p>\n
Ohio took second place in the first final of the day, the 200 Freestyle Relay. The Bobcat team of Lauren Funk (Springfield, Ohio), Annie Donovan (Findlay, Ohio), Katey Brooks (North Royalton, Ohio) and Abby Corcoran (Tucson, Ariz.) finished only 0.33 seconds behind Buffalo's winning team. Ohio's time of 1:30.78 was good enough to qualify for the NCAA B cut and is also one of the ten fastest times in school history.<\/p>\n
Laurin Williams (Shoreline, Wash.) followed things up in the next event with a very strong showing in the 500 Freestyle, touching in 4:44.86. Not only was this fast enough to also qualify for the NCAA B cut but it absolutely shattered the prior Ohio record by nearly three full seconds. Williams finished second, only 0.24 seconds behind Toledo's Claire Leichty.<\/p>\n
The 200 IM was a strong event for Ohio on Thursday, as both Rachel Stearns (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Emma Michaels (Findlay, Ohio) finished in the top four and qualified for the NCAA B cut. Stearns finished third in the second-fastest time in program history, 2:00.66. Michaels was not far behind her, touching in 2:01.24 to also make the B cut.<\/p>\n
Ohio had a strong pack in the 50 Freestyle, as Donovan, Tori Bagan (Roanoke, Ind.), Corcoran and Funk all finished near one another. Donovan earned fifth place; Bagan placed sixth; Corcoran took eighth and Funk placed ninth. Each of these swimmers collected important team points for the Bobcats.<\/p>\n
MaryRose Hillstrom (Dimondale, Mich.) had a great day from the one-meter diving board, placing second with a program-record score of 309.40. This was followed up by another NCAA B cut qualifying relay team in the 400 Medley Relay. This team of Stearns, Bagan, Cecere and Funk touched in 3:42.12.<\/p>\n
Friday's competition will begin at 11 a.m. with preliminary heats in the following events: 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke and three-meter diving.<\/p>\n
The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AKRON, Ohio, February 23. OHIO Swimming and Diving completed the first day of the 2012 Mid-American Conference Championships on Thursday, ending up in first place with 239 total team points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n