MAC Championships Tightens Up On Day Three

Bobcats Win Three Individual MAC Titles Friday Night
With only one day remaining at the Mid-American Conference Championships, the Ohio University swimming and diving team is holding steady in second place after winning three individual titles in record times Friday night.

The Bobcats have totaled 398.5 points over the first three days, while Miami enters the final night in first, 31.5 points ahead of Ohio. Toledo trails the ’Cats by just a point, while Eastern Michigan is in fourth with 322.5 points. Buffalo, Akron, host Bowling Green and Ball State round out the standings, respectively, with seven events remaining until a champion is crowned.

“We can’t worry about Miami, we just have to take care of our business,” Ohio head coach Greg Werner said of the team’s positioning. “And with Toledo only a point behind us, we can’t overlook them either.”

Sophomore Rachel Heim (San Diego, Calif.) led the charge on day three with a pair of MAC crowns. Heim repeated as MAC champion in the 100 butterfly in a school and conference-record time of 53.47, while also claiming the 100 back title in another school and MAC-record time of 54.65. Heim’s standard in the 100 fly broke a Bobcat record that had stood since 1991 by over a second, while her mark in the 100 back also broke the Ohio record by over a tick. She now has four MAC titles in her career swimming for the Green & White, after helping Ohio win the 200 free relay Thursday night. With her record times, Heim is now provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in both events.

“She (Heim) was on fire tonight,” Werner said.

Sophomore Amanda Cecere (Chelmsford, Mass.) was the runner-up in the 100 fly, a second behind Heim, but briefly held the school record after breaking it with her prelim time Friday morning. Juniors Ashley Poitinger (Akron, Ohio) and Caitlin Drozin (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) grabbed 13th and 15th place, respectively, for the Bobcats, both in lifetime bests.

Also in the 100 back, senior Carine Souza (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) placed eighth, while freshman Sarah Owen (Portsmouth, England) came in 11th.

Senior Ashley Marion (London, Ont.) opened the evening by winning her third-career 400 individual medley MAC final, doing so in a school and conference-record mark of 4:15.37, breaking an Ohio record that had stood since 1999 by nearly five seconds. The senior now has won eight individual or relay MAC championships during her illustrious career as a Bobcat and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with her record time.

Freshmen Petra Chomicz (King’s Lynn, England), Kristen Witham (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Annika Games (Brea, Calif.) placed ninth, 11th and 15th, respectively in the 400 IM, while sophomore Stacey Huber (Gainesville, Fla.) was 16th. All four set personal-best marks in the process, either in prelims or in the finals.

In the 200 free, junior Chelsey Bower (Bethel Park, Pa.), who won the 50 free a night earlier, touched in eighth in 1:50.34, while swimming the third-fastest time in Ohio history during the prelims (1:48.26). Sophomore Amanda Traylor (Los Alamitos, Calif.) finished 10th, Souza 14th and freshman Abby Corcoran (Tucson, Ariz.) 16th, all in personal-best times.

The Bobcats closed night three with a third-place finish in the 400 medley relay, as Marion, junior Allison Schaefer (Medina, Ohio), Cecere and Bower combined to stop the clock in a school-record 3:42.88, breaking an eight-year-old Ohio record by well over a tick.

The Green & White have now won five MAC crowns at the 2009 Championships, already topping the three they won in 2008. The ’Cats have also set 10 school records and five league records at the meet, with Marion setting or helping set five of the school marks.

“It means a lot to the program,” Werner said of all the MAC titles and records. “We pride ourselves on how hard we work and our attention to detail. To see our student-athletes standing on top of the podium in a very good conference is a tribute to their hard work and dedication.”

The MAC Championships conclude tomorrow night, with the last session of finals set to begin at 7 p.m. at BGSU’s Cooper Pool. Swimming prelims commence at 11 a.m. with Saturday’s finals consisting of the 1650 free, in which Huber is the reigning champion, the 200 back, the 100 free, the 200 breast, the 200 fly and the three-meter diving finals, while culminating in the 400 free relay.

“There’s certainly comfort in knowing that the last day is our strongest day,” Werner said. “We know if we perform well in the morning, like we’re capable of, we know we can make a run at (the MAC championship).”