MAC Women's Swimming & Diving Final Team Results
1. Akron 650
2. Eastern Michigan 555
3. Bowling Green 507
4. Buffalo 477
5. Miami 443
6. Ohio 359.5
7. Toledo 343.5
8. Ball State 170
Bowling Green
The Bowling Green State University swim and dive team finished third at the Mid-American Conference Championships for the third consecutive year. Each season, the Falcons have increased their point total, despite competing without any divers in all three seasons. The meet took place on Eastern Michigan University's campus in the Jones Natatorium.
At the 2013 MAC Championships, BG finished third with 467 points. Last season, the team scored a total of 476 points and this year the Falcon swimmers finished with 507 points.
"We swam tough this week, broke several school records, put a lot of people in top 8 and scored the most points out of the last 5 years," said head coach Petra Martin. "Obviously we all wanted a bit more than third place but that just means that we need to go back to the drawing board, get refocused and ready for next year. This is our third time in a row to get third and we all certainly want to break through that and we will."
Akron defended their title, winning the conference championship with 650 points. Host school Eastern Michigan finished second with 555 points, 114 of those coming from the two diving events. The Falcons finished just 48 points behind the Eagles. Buffalo was fourth with 477 points and Miami followed in fifth with 443. Ohio claimed sixth place with 359.5 points and Toledo finished with 343.5. Ball State rounded out the scoring, finishing in eighth place with 170 points.
Kicking off the last session of final swims, the Falcons had three swimmers in the longest event of the meet, the 1650 freestyle. Alex Poitinger won the first heat of the timed finals, swimming a career best 16:51.83, out-swimming her seed time by just under 38 seconds. She went on to place sixth overall. Tara Capouch swam her first 1000 in the race in a time of 10:08.84, which broke the 1000 freestyle school record of 10:10.55. The previous record was set in 1992 and was the longest standing record in Bowling Green history.
Another school record was broken one event later, as Estela Davis swam an NCAA B cut qualifying time of 1:57.02 in the 200 backstroke championship finals. She placed fourth overall, as teammate Franziska Wohlert finished fifth, both placing higher than they were seeded. Wohlert is now the fourth fastest swimmer in the event in school history. Maria Galic also made it back into the consolation finals, where she placed fourth (12th overall) with a 2:03.16.
Victoria Griffin represented the Falcons in the 100 freestyle championship final, where she finished one place higher than her seeding, finishing second overall with an NCAA B cut qualifying time of 49.88. Kayla Effinger added a 16th place finish overall, as she took the eighth spot in the consolation final.
Three Falcons made it into the championship final of the 200 breaststroke, earning BG 39 crucial points in the event. Kristin Filby placed 5th, Daniela Carrillo took 6th and Stephanie Boyle finished in 7th place.
Both 200 butterfly swimmers who swam in prelims also qualified for the finals. Nicole Hranchook swam a PR time of 2:04.86 in prelims before competing in the B final, where she placed 13th overall. Jordan Bullock finished eighth in the A final.
BGSU led Eastern Michigan by 24 points heading into the 3-meter diving finals but the Eagles earned 70 points to overtake the Falcons with one event remaining.
The Falcon 400 freestyle relay team of Griffin, Capouch, Wohlert and Hannah Newman swam a season best 3:24.21 in the final event of the meet.
Overall, Bowling Green broke six school records during the four-day MAC Championships.
Miami (OH)
Miami University women’s swimming and diving team finished fifth in the Mid-American Conference Championships after competing all weekend.
Sophomore diver Pei Lin won the three-meter dive after being postponed from yesterday. Her score was a 365.10, earning her 20 team points.
Sophomore Stephanie LeMire placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in with a 2:13.80, receiving 17 points.
The RedHawks had two top-eight finishers in the 100-yard freestyle, sophomore Elise Campbell (50.28) and senior Annie Marquiss (50.72). Campbell came in fourth place while Marquiss finished sixth. The pair earned Miami 28 points.
In the 1650-yard freestyle, freshman Shay Spelman touched the wall in 16:46.70, for 15 points and a fourth-place finish.
In the last race of the 2015 MAC Championships, the RedHawk team of Elise Campbell, junior Natalie Rohr, LeMire and Marquiss clocked in at 3:22.46, good enough for second place and 34 team points.
Up next for Miami is the Ohio Senior Championship which runs from Friday, March 6 to Sunday, March 8 at the Nixon Aquatic Center.
