Women’s Swimming Opens the New Year against Toledo Saturday – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swim & Dive
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s swimming and diving team (1-3) returns to action Saturday at 1 p.m. against Toledo at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion.
The Buckeyes have been in training since finishing second at the third annual Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational, Nov. 30-Dec. 2. During the three-day meet, the Scarlet and Gray swimmers came away with five NCAA qualifying times. Minnesota won the tournament, with Iowa finishing in third.
OHIO STATE FRESHMEN
Three Ohio State freshmen – Samantha Cheverton, Katelyn Brix and Anita Beck – have combined for six NCAA “B” qualifying times in the first half of the season. Cheverton leads the team with “B” cut times in the 500-yard freestyle, 200 freestyle and in the 200 butterfly. Brix has qualified in the 400 individual medley and the 1,650 freestyle, while Beck has a “B” cut time in the 500 freestyle.
ON THE ROCKETS
Head coach Lars Jorgensen is in his fourth year with the Toledo swimming and diving program. The Rockets finished the 2006-07 with a 5-4 oerall record and a fourth-place finish in the Mid-American Conference.
Toledo returns 16 swimmers and divers from last season and added ten newcomers to this year’s squad. The Rockets are led by senior Leah Woodard, who is ranked 32nd in the nation in the 50 freestyle and is in the top 100 in the 100 freestyle. Senior Megan McKinley leads the diving squad and broke the school record in the 3-meter earlier this season.
The Rockets are coming off a third-place finish at the Eastern Michigan University Invitational. Overall, Toledo holds a 7-1 record and is a perfect 4-0 in conference action.
LAST MEET – OHIO STATE INVITE
Ohio State hosted the third annual Ohio State Swimming and Diving Invitational, Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and came away with a second-place finish. A total of 15 teams participated in the event, including six Big Ten opponents. Minnesota took first, while Iowa finished third.
Highlighting day one for Ohio State was junior Chelsea Davis, who captured first-place on the three-meter board with a score of 333.10. Freshman Bianca Alvarez followed close behind and finished with 323.95 points for a second-place finish. In the 500 freestyle, freshmen Samantha Cheverton and Anita Beck each recorded career bests, as well as NCAA “B” cut times, to finish third and fourth for Ohio State. Cheverton finished in a time of 4:50.22, while Beck had a time of 4:51.98.
Alvarez made it two-for-two for the Buckeyes on day two after she won the one-meter event with 302.80 points. Katelyn Brix swam an NCAA “B” qualifying time and a career-best time of 4:21.53 in the 400 individual medley to place second in the event. Cheverton grabbed a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly (:55.40) and a fifth in the 200 freestyle.
On the last day of competition, Brix finished third in the 1,650 freestyle with a personal best and NCAA “B” qualifying time of 16:46.23. Sophomore Haley Mitchell also scored for the Buckeyes in the event, taking sixth in a time of 17:14.21. Ohio State placed four swimmers Cheverton, Beck and Brix and the sophomore Jill Lockhart in the championship final of the 200 butterfly and came away scoring a total of 56 team points. Cheverton was fourth in an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 2:00.05 and she was followed by Beck, Lockhart and Brix in fourth, fifth and eighth, respectively
HOME SWEET HOME
The rest of the schedule is filled with home-crowd advantages as the Buckeyes host five of the remaining six dual meets at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion. Including Saturday’s face-off with Toledo, Ohio State will host four straight home meets before traveling to Northwestern on January 26. The Buckeyes close out the regular season on February 1 with a home meet against Michigan.
The home-pool advantage continues into the post season as the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion will also be home to the 2008 Big Ten Championships on Feb. 21-23 and NCAA Championships on March 20-22.
BY THE NUMBERS
The 2007-08 Ohio State women’s swimming and diving squad is primarily made up of freshmen and sophomores, but is one that is supported by an upperclassmen base.
The Buckeyes are led in experience by two seniors and three juniors. The rest of the team is comprised of 12 sophomores and 11 freshmen.
COACH JEANNE FLECK
Head women’s swimming coach Jeanne Fleck is in her ninth year as head coach of Buckeyes. In her eight years at Ohio State, she has worked to improve the team and gain recognition on the conference and national levels.
Last season’s campaign saw the Buckeyes finish 6-3 overall and take eighth in the Big Ten Championships, sending two swimmers to the 2007 NCAA Championships. Fleck also guided the team to a second place finish at the second annual Ohio State Invitational held at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
During her tenure at Ohio State she has geared the Buckeyes to 12 school records. The Buckeyes had the highest grade point average in the Big Ten conference in 2004 and was ranked ninth in the country during fall quarter of 2003. In six seasons, Fleck has had 53 Academic All-Big Ten selections and 98 OSU Scholar-Athletes.
ABOUT COACH PANZANO
Vince Panzano is coach of the Ohio State men’s and women’s diving teams. Panzano, who was named the 2004 Big Ten Women’s Diving Coach of the Year and has a total of nine Big Ten Coach of the Year honors (three for the women and six for the men), has produced one world champion, one junior world champion, two Olympic medalists, 22 U.S. Diving champions, ten NCAA champions, 14 NCAA runners-up, 48 Big Ten champions and 69 NCAA All-Americans.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes host Wright State in a co-ed dual meet, Jan. 11, at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion. Start time is set for 5 p.m.
