The Eastern Michigan University swim teams will have a busy weekend at the Jones Natatorium, as they will play host to three teams in two days.
The men’s and women’s teams will take on Wayne State University, for the second time in the 2013-14, season Friday and take on Ball State University and No. 11 Ohio State University Saturday.
Both teams returned home after two road competitions at Florida International University and Denison University, to face the University at Buffalo and Michigan State University.
The men’s squad defeated Buffalo 195-105 and MSU 209-91. The women squeaked out a win against Buffalo, 152-148, and defeated the Spartans 193-106. The meet against UB came down to the final event of the night, the 400-freestyle, after the Eagles and Bulls went back and forth and exchanging the lead throughout the meet.
“I’m really proud of both of [the teams],” EMU coach Peter Linn said after the meet. “They competed extremely well. The guys got off to a fast start and built on that.”
The men’s team of Wayne State took a third place finish in the EMU Invitational back in December. On Jan. 11,the Warriors upset second-ranked Grand Valley State University at home by a narrow 153-147 score and beat the University of Findlay 174-87 Jan. 17.
The Warriors will enter with two divers and a swimmer qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Freshman Soren Holm got a “B” cut for the 100-yard butterfly after punching the wall at 48.86 against Grand Valley State. Divers Kevin White and Dylan Szegedi made the cut for the one-meter dive while Szegedi also got into the three-meter dive at the NCAA Championships after the Clarion Diving Invitational in October.
The Warriors’ women’s team placed last out of the three teams that competed in the EMU Invitational. Like the men’s squad, the women won versus GVSU and at Findlay since the invitational.
Kristina Novichenko and Carol Azambuja earned spots in the NCAA Championship in four individual swimming events. Divers Paige Kortman and Elizabeth Rawlings made the cut for the one and three-meter dives in the NCAA Championship.
Ohio State is coming off a first place finish at the Kenyon Winter Invite, over the weekend, against four other teams.
Junior Tamas Gercsak won the 200-butterfly and 200-individual medley. The Buckeyes also saw the return of redshirt senior All-American Tim Phillips, who took a semester-long break to participate on a North Carolina-based training team. The men’s squad has yet to lose in dual meet competition this year.
Like the men’s team, the women’s squad of Ohio State finished in the top spot at the Kenyon Winter Invite. The Buckeyes won all eight events on the last day of competition as well as setting a few new pool records thanks to senior Alex Norris. The women lost once in dual meet competition at a road meet against Purdue University 157-143 Nov. 8.
The Ball State men’s swim team finished last in the EMU Invitational, and since then lost to Indiana University- Purdue University Indianaplois and Xavier University at Indianapolis Jan. 10, but rebounded to win at home versus Eastern Illinois University over the weekend.
The BSU women’s squad comes in search of its first Mid-American Conference win. The Cardinals started the season 0-4 in dual meet competition before winning the Doug Coers Invitational in its home pool Nov. 22-23. The Cardinals are coming off a 164-62 win over Eastern Illinois.
Weekend Schedule:
The Eagles start the weekend with a dual meet against Wayne State Friday at 5 p.m.
Then on Saturday, EMU faces Ohio State and Ball State starting at 1 p.m.
This will be the final time the Eagles are home for the 2013-14 campaign, with a road meet at Miami University and the Ohio State Invitational coming up on the schedule.
