For the second consecutive weekend, the Bowling Green State University swimming team needed a win in the final event, the 200 freestyle relay, to win its dual meet. And for the second consecutive weekend, the Falcons got exactly what they needed. Bowling Green overcame a one-point deficit by winning the 200 freestyle relay by .03 seconds to defeat rival Toledo 151-143 Friday evening.
"The entire coaching staff is excited and proud of the team," BGSU Swimming Coach Petra Martin said. "This was definitely the closest meet we have had in a long time. It came down to the wire again. Just like last week (in a win over Michigan State), we were stepping up in every race and fighting hard for every point."
Toledo entered the meet at 3-0 in MAC competition but the Falcons overcame a 32-point deficit in the two diving events by winning eight of the 14 races in the pool. In fact, the Falcons dominated the freestyle events, taking first and second place in the 50, 100, 200 and 1000 free (earning the top three spots in the 1000). BGSU also finished first and second in the 200 breaststroke.
Trailing 139-138 heading into the 200 freestyle relay, the team of Kayla Effinger, Anna Babinec, Emily Waller and Hannah Newman swam a 1:35.07 to barely beat Toledo and grab 11 points. The Rockets got four points for second but Bowling Green added two more with a third-place finish as well for the win.
Five different BGSU swimmers won an individual event, while Victoria Griffin and Daniela Carrillo won a pair each. Griffin remained undefeated in dual meets in both the 100 and 200 freestyle, improving to 6-0 and 5-0 respectively. Carrillo picked up victories in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, winning those events in a dual meet for the first time this year.
In the 100 freestyle, BGSU not only swept the top three spots but picked up personal bests by all three swimmers. Lara Klein swam a 10:24.96 to win the event, while Tara Capouch was second in 10:26.31. Petra Laudova followed her teammates in 10:34.01.
Although Joelle Scheps did not win the 100 butterfly, she did set a personal best in the event with a time of 56.41. Scheps did pick up a victory in the 200 individual medley. Along with being a part of the 200 free relay team that clinched the victory, Effinger won the 50 freestyle in 24.07 seconds.
"We are very excited to see this as we are now only a few weeks away from the MAC Championships," Martin said. "We have a few more weeks of meets and some more polishing to be done. I want to say thank you to the Falcon Fanatics and all the families, friends and fans who made it look more like a home meet for us. We had great crowd support!"
Bowling Green improves to 3-3 in dual meets this year and 1-2 in Mid-American Conference action. The Falcons will compete in back-to-back meets next weekend, swimming at Ohio Friday at 5 pm and at Marshall Saturday at 2 pm.
