On senior day, Briana Emig captured first in the 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyles in 1 minute, 52.84 seconds, 4:58.58 and 10:20.17, respectively, to help the Eastern Michigan University women’s swim team remain undefeated by knocking off the Bowling Green State University Falcons 166-128 at Jones Natatorium.
Before the event began, Emig and fellow seniors Wesley Blassneck, Kelly Hendricks, Danielle Hulvey, Lauren Kalinosky, Christina Nunez-Wood, Helena Tolic and Vanessa Weidner were honored in a pre-meet ceremony to celebrate their swimming time at EMU. Numerous swimmers spoke about the bonds they developed over the years with them.
Towards the end of the ceremony, reality began to hit for the seniors.
“I did not think that I was going to cry,” Kalinosky said. “As soon as my mom hugged me, I completely lost it. I was trying to hold it together, but I could not help it because I have been so emotional this whole week. It is weird to know that it is almost over.”
The meet kicked off with the 200-medley relay with the quartet of Kalinosky, Tolic, junior Jackie Swartz and freshman Mary MacLean finishing second, touching the wall with a time of 1:47.32.
Swartz and junior Meghan Richardson finished first and second, respectively, in the 100 butterfly with times of 56.88 and 57.63.
“I was very happy about [the time],” Richardson said. “I have been pretty consistent unlike the past few years, so 57.63 is a good time and [Swartz] got first. I could not be any happier.”
Tolic took second in the 100 backstroke in 58.66.
In the 200 butterfly, sophomore Jessie Godlewski finished first with a time of 2:05.15.
Godlewski also captured first in the 200 backstroke and individual medley at 2:05.07 and 2:08.35, respectively.
Tolic placed third in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:08.74.
In the 500 freestyle that Emig won, freshman Audra Burtch finished second in 5:06.79.
The relay team of Tolic, sophomore Sara Ghaffari, MacLean and Emig placed second in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:35.74.
Nunez-Wood, sophomore Lauren Dark and Hendricks placed first, second and third in the women’s three-meter dive with scores of
325.43, 308.93 and 305.03, respectively.
In the one-meter dive, it was an all-senior affair as Hulvey, Hendricks and Nunez-Wood also finished first, second and third with scores of 309.97, 306.98 and 279.68, respectively.
As the season begins to wind down for the Eagles, the intensity begins to pick up for the women.
“Since it is getting closer to the Mid-American Conference Championship, coach [Linn] is telling us to be a lot more technical, especially in the 50,” Richardson said. “[The 50] has to be perfect, and if you screw something up you are going to add time to your run.”
Meet Note:
In the one and three-meter diving events, no members of the Bowling Green team participated. As a result, EMU guaranteed themselves the maximum number of points.
Looking Ahead:
On Jan. 19 the EMU women will begin their season-ending, three-meet road trip when they go to Muncie, Ind. to take on the Ball State Cardinals in a dual meet.
Both the men and women will compete on the same day, but the scores remain separate for both teams.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
After the Ball State meet, the Eagles travel to Buffalo, N.Y. Jan.
26 to take on the University at Buffalo in their regular season MAC final.
On Feb. 9 and 10, the regular season wraps up at the Ohio State Winter Invitational in Columbus, Ohio.
The final field for the invitational has yet to be announced.
