Team Celebrates Season; Hands Out Awards At Banquet – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Artistic Swimming
April 20, 2015
The Ohio State synchronized swimming team capped the 2014-15 season in the best way possible, with a US Collegiate National Championship. On Sunday, the team celebrated the season, the championship and its senior class in its year-end banquet.
The national championship was the 29th in program history, the most of any sport at Ohio State. For head coach Holly Vargo-Brown, it was her first as a head coach and her 22nd overall with the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes opened the year with two victories at the OSU Invitational and the annual Jessica Beck Memorial. The Valentine’s Day weekend saw the squad across the country. Members of the Scarlet team rolled to a pair of victories at Arizona while the rest of the team took victories at William & Mary and at Richmond.
The only event the team didn’t win this season was the North Regional Championship. The runner-up finish only helped fuel the drive at the US Collegiate Championship, which the Buckeyes hosted two weeks later. Needing a spark from the trios on the final day, Alysaa Hoying, Lorraine Hack and Monica Velazquez-Stiak took second place while Emma Baranski, Elizabeth Davidson and Khadija Zanotto were right behind them in third. That set the tone for the rest of the day as the Scarlet team would cap the event and provide the winning margin with a victory in the team competition. That was the first win for the Buckeyes in that event since 2010.
In addition to winning its 29th national championship, a number of Buckeyes garnered individual national awards.
Heidi Liou was named the US Synchro Athlete of the Year by the coaches. The award goes to the student-athlete that shows tremendous character, commitment, sportsmanship, academic and athletic achievements.
Eight Buckeyes earned All-America honors for their performances at the US Collegiate Championship. Zanotto earned the award for the fourth-straight year. Baranski, Hack, Davidson, and Morgan Boneberg earned the honor for the second-straight year while Velasquez-Stiak, Hoying and Noelle St. John earned the award in their first year. A total of 13 Buckeyes earned the USA Sycnhro Academic Award.
Holly Vargo-Brown was named U.S. Collegiate Coach of the Year for the third time in her career.
At the banquet, the team handed out its own awards.
In addition to the USA Synchro Academic Awards, academic advisor Vicki Melnick recognized the 15 athletes who were OSU Scholar Athletes this season, including Hack who had a perfect 4.0 GPA.
Strength and conditioning coach Kim Dally-Badgeley honored senior Paige Wells and sophomore Caroline Jimenez with the Buckeye Power Club Award for the hardest workers in the weight room.
The team’s Most Valuable Swimmer Award went to Emma Baranski. Baranski earned the most points at the US Collegiate National Championships including taking the silver medal in the solo routine. She was described by the coaches as the one athlete who when asked if she could give any more, would always find a way to give the extra effort.
Sophomore Jasmine Pulido, who trained as the alternate for the Scarlet Squad this season, was named to the team’s Most Improved Swimmer.
The Buckeye Award is presented to the athlete who exhibits outstanding Buckeye spirit, a strong ability to work well with teammates and their coaches, excellent motivation and clear vision of what it means to be a team player. This year’s winners were seniors Emily Muma, Khadija Zanotto and Katie Spada.
The team has two awards named in honor of former swimmers — The Joann Ferguson Kale Award and the Jessica Beck Award. The Ferguson Kale award was presented to Alexa Aton who showed the qualities of a student-athlete who was friendly, helpful and respectful to others in the way Joann was. The Jessica Beck Award honors the athlete who possesses the qualities of respect, dedication and a “Sunshine” spirit that Jessica showed. That award went to freshman Lizzie Welzien.
The final award was the Carmen Ohio Award. That is awarded to the senior athlete who exemplifies outstanding leadership and team spirit and is the heartbeat of the team. Assistant coach Suzanna Fernandez said “without Katie Spada’s leadership this season, this team would have been lost.” Quite the honor for Spada who was one of the team’s two senior captains this season.
