The Eastern Michigan University women’s swimming and diving team won its Mid-American Conference opener 166-126 in a dual meet over the Bowling Green State University Falcons on Saturday.
Eastern Michigan (1-0, 1-0 MAC) defeated a Bowling Green (0-1, 0-1 MAC) team that was selected second in the MAC preseason polls.
There were many close finishes and it was something head coach Peter Linn expected to see from the Falcons heading into the meet.
“[Bowling Green] edged us out a bit last year and we beat them in a dual meet last year,” Linn said. “It’s always going to be who wins a lot of the close races.”
Junior Jessie Godlewski showed why she was named MAC swimmer of the week with another strong performance in the pool. Godlewski scored two victories in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard butterfly.
With many solid performances in her events, Linn attributes to the physical conditioning she went through during the offseason.
“She’s a good athlete,” Linn said. “She has done all the things she needs to do to make herself a good swimmer.”
Junior Monica Dorszewski took victories in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, where she finished in first above freshman Genna Worthley in both events.
Dorszewski punched the wall .12 seconds ahead of Worthley in the 100 breaststroke. Dorszewski pulled away from Worthley and finished over three seconds in the 200 breaststroke.
But Eastern started picking up some finishes with sophomore Audra Burtch winning in the 1000-yard freestyle. Burtch also went on to win the 500 freestyle event with Mary Grace Van Allen and Allison Murslack helping Eastern Michigan to a 1-2-3 finish in the category.
EMU freshman Carly Jackson narrowly defeated Bowling Green senior Joëlle Scheps in the 100 butterfly. Jackson had to come back from fourth to beat Scheps by four one-hundredths of a second.
BGSU also had some solid finishes from its swimmers. Freshman Victoria Griffin was one of the bright spots for the Falcons in the afternoon. Griffin had a pair of victories in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events.
Senior Brittany Szekely won the 50 freestyle in 23.67 with EMU sophomore Mary Kate MacLean coming in second by .32 seconds.
Falcons freshman Maya Skorupski grabbed a win in the 100-yard backstroke, a second place finish in the 200 backstroke event and part of the 200 medley relay-winning team.
Scheps won the 200-yard individual medley and finished second to Griffin in the 200-yard freestyle. Sophomore Jordan Bullock and freshman Kristin Filby completed a Falcon 1-2-3 finish in the event. Scheps was also part of the victorious relay team in the 200 medley relay.
Bowling Green completed a sweep of the relay events with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the Falcons finished 1-2-3. But it didn’t matter as the Eagles opened up the conference schedule with a 166-126 win.
“I think we all did really well,” EMU junior Sara Ghaffari said. “I think our freshmen showed we have a really strong team this year.”
The Eagles were the only team to enter three divers and sweep the one-meter and three-meter diving events with junior Lauren Dark winning both events over sophomore Hannah Cochran and junior Karly Taylor.
Looking Ahead:
The women’s team remains at home Saturday, Nov. 2 as the Eagles play host to the University of Akron for a 1 p.m. start.
The men’s squad will return to action until Saturday, Nov. 9 with a home dual meet versus Oakland University.
Bowling Green goes on the road again next Saturday to take on the Miami University RedHawks Friday and Xavier University next Saturday.
