W Swimming & Diving: Scarlet & Gray Meet Friday – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swim & Dive
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s swimming and diving team will compete in its annual Scarlet and Gray meet at 5 p.m. Friday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
The meet featuring a Scarlet team comprised of men’s and women’s competitors against a Gray team of competitors, will provide the student-athletes with a nice break from the competitive training they have been engaged in, according to new women’s swimming coach Bill Dorenkott.
“This will be a good break from training,” Dorenkott said. “The meet will also be a benchmark of sorts for where we are right now, plus it will be an opportunity to race.”
Dorenkott, who took over the women’s program in July after 10 years as the women’s coach at Penn State (where he also coached the Nittany Lion men for seven years), will also use the meet as an opportunity to view the team’s focus.
“Our biggest focus is to be emotionally engaged, physically prepared, mentally tough and passionate about racing,” Dorenkott said. “All of these traits will, at some point, be the hallmark of our program. These are all things that you have to practice and tomorrow will be on of our first opportunities to display them in a competitive situation.”
Key Returnees from Last Year
Sophomore Samantha Cheverton earned an NCAA “A” qualifying time in the 200 backstroke and competed at the NCAA championships in that event. Five other Buckeye swimmers tallied NCAA “B” cut times: juniors Colleen Schweitzer, Haley Mitchell and Jill Lockhart, and sophomores Katelyn Brix and Anita Beck. Cheverton, Lockhart, Megan Alexander, Beck, Brix, Mitchell and Maggie O’Brien all scored points for the Buckeyes at the 2008 Big Ten championships.
A Great Year for Diving
The Ohio State diving team closed out the season as, perhaps, the top diving squad in the nation. Junior Chelsea Davis and freshmen Bianca Alvarez and Kristen Asmen went 9-1 on the one-meter and 10-0 on the three-meter during the dual meet season. All three earned All-America honors at the NCAA championship with Davis winning a national title on the three-meter springboard.
Griet Returns
Senior Griet Buelens, a 2007 NCAA qualifier who took a year off trying to make the Belgium Olympic team, has rejoined the team for her final season of collegiate swimming. The butterfly and freestyle expert competed in three events at the 2007 NCAA championships 200 fly, 200 free and 500 free and is a welcome addition to the program.
2007-08 Season Recap
Ohio State finished the 2007-08 season with a 6-5 overall dual meet record and went 1-2 against Big Ten schools. The Buckeyes placed eighth at the Big Ten championships and, led by a strong diving team, placed 15th at the NCAA championships. The McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion hosted both the 2008 Big Ten and NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
New Head Swimming Coach Bill Dorenkott
Bill Dorenkott was named the head coach of the Ohio State women’s swimming program. He arrived at Ohio State after serving as head coach of the Penn State women’s team for the past 10 years and its men’s team for seven years. Dorenkott has coached the Penn State women to Big Ten Conference championships in 2002, 2005 and 2006. He has coached 27 different student-athletes to 32 Big Ten individual championships and has had a total of 57 swimmers qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials over the years.
Diving Coach Vince Panzano
Vince Panzano, in his 31st season at Ohio State, is one of the most highly respected diving coaches in the world. Panzano has produced one world champion, one junior world champion, two Olympic medalists, 22 U.S. diving champions, 12 NCAA champions, 16 NCAA runners-up, 54 Big Ten champions and 75 All-Americans. Panzano also has coached Ohio State and McDonald’s Diving to six national team titles. Panzano and Ohio State have had divers on five of the last six Olympic Teams. Among his many accolades, he has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year nine times and NCAA Diving Coach of the Year four times, including the 2008 women’s Coach of the Year. Last year, Panzano coached two NCAA champions and five All-Americans.
New Assistants
Joining first-year Ohio State head coach Bill Dorenkott are two new assistants. Stefanie Williams is a fulltime assistant. She came to Ohio State after serving as assistant coach at the University of Missouri for the past three years. She was a four-time NCAA national champion and 24-time All-American swimmer at Georgia and graduated from there in 2003.
Also assisting the program is graduate assistant coach Susan Johnson, who swam competitively at and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Six Freshmen
There are six freshmen on the squad this season: Catherine Eitel, Erin Fawley, Christina Flessa and Jenna Hillier are all from the state of Ohio, while Lisa Narum and Natalie Nichols are from California.
Buckeyes Open Season Against Kenyon College
Ohio State kicks off its regular season Saturday, Nov. 1 against Division III powerhouse Kenyon College. The co-ed meet begins at 1 p.m. at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
The Kenyon College Lords picked up their 22nd NCAA title in the past 25 years last march. The team finished with 566.5 points and were over 200 points ahead of second-place finisher Amherst.
Schedule
The meet against Kenyon is the first of seven meets the Buckeyes will compete in during the regular season. Ohio State hosts Cincinnati November 7th and travels to Cleveland State on the 25th. The Buckeyes take on Wright State on January 9th and host Indiana and Missouri on January 17th. Highlighting the dual-meet season is a dual meet with Penn State on January 30-31st. Ohio State closes out the season with a dual meet against West Virginia on February 7th at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
###OhioStateBuckeyes.com###
