The Bowling Green State University Swimming and Diving team defeated Ball State 196.5-103.5 in their first dual meet of the season Friday night at Cooper Pool.
The Falcons placed first in the 200 medley relay, 1000 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 50 fre?estyle, 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 400 individual medley.
“We were very happy with what we saw today,” Head Coach Petra Martin said. “There was some good, aggressive racing from the ladies. The divers are getting better every week, so that’s great to see also.”
In the last two meets, BGSU has won 21 out of 24 of its races.
Estela Davis-Ortiz won three of her four events, recording first place finishes in the 200 medley relay, 100 backstroke and 400 IM. Coming off a MAC Swimmer of the Week performance, Victoria Griffin won two races. Also winning two events were Kristin Filby, Kayla Effinger and Jordan Bullock.
The Falcons opened the meet with a first and second place finish in the 200 medley relay. The teams were separated by less than a second in time. In the longest event of the night, Natalie Criswell, Tara Capouch and Alex Poitinger went 1-2-3 in the 1000 freestyle. Griffin won the 200 freestyle and 50 freestyle. BGSU swept its second event of the night, as Davis-Ortiz placed first, Maya Skorupski placed second and Hannah Newman finished third in the 100 backstroke. Filby and Daniella Carrillo took first and second place, respectively in the 100 breaststroke. The success continued for the Falcons as Jordan Bullock won the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:06.49. Going into 1-meter diving, BGSU was up 104-27 on the Cardinals.
Ball State swept the diving portion of the meet (1- and 3-meter), but Dive Coach Alex Gauvin was pleased with how his divers performed.
“They came in and did exactly what I wanted them to do, which was show that we have been working on our basics and mechanics and that a couple months down the line we will be someone to look out for,” Gauvin said. “They learned a lot by watching the other team dive and they know now what is expected of them.”
Effinger recorded a first place tie in the 100 freestyle to open up the second half of the meet. The Orange and Brown then swept Ball State in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke. Bullock and Griffin placed first and third in the 100 butterfly, giving BGSU a 172.5-72.5 lead through 13 events. Davis-Ortiz and Bullock placed 1-2 in the 400 IM for the Falcons.
“Today we were able to mix things up a little bit,” Martin said. “We put people in a couple different events and I think it’s something we need to do at this point in the season to get an idea of what our different options are.”
Bowling Green competes next at Oakland Nov. 8 against the Golden Grizzlies and Eastern Michigan. The team returns to Cooper Pool on January 16 at 6:00 p.m. to take on Michigan State and Marshall.
