Falcons Complete Eastern Michigan Invitational in Fourth Place

Saturday, December 4

Ypsilanti, Mich.

TBA

Bowling Green State University

Eastern Michigan Invitational Day 2

December 04, 2010 | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communications Intern

RESULTS

The Bowling Green State University swimming team rode consistent performances and several top-three finishes to a solid fourth place finish in the 25th annual Eastern Michigan Invitational on Friday and Saturday (Dec. 3-4).

Overall, the Falcons scored 604 points, nearly doubling Ashland's output of 335. The Falcons trailed third place Ball State by only 45 and second place Eastern Michigan by 90. The University of Michigan ran away with the championship, scoring 865 points.

The meet, held at the Michael H. Jones Natatorium in Ypsilanti, Mich., consisted of 18 swimming events over two days. Saturday's action included 12 events broken into a morning and an evening session.

In the morning session, the biggest Falcon highlight came in the 100 breaststroke. BGSU entered two swimmers, and they finished second and third in the race. Each also eclipsed the previous meet record in the event.

Sophomore Alexis Kain earned the second place finish and set a new personal record by completing the distance in 1:03.86. Amanda Rom, a junior and the school record holder in the event (1:03.03), posted a time of 1:03.95 to finish third. The previous meet record was 1:03.97.

Another personal record fell in the 100 backstroke, when sophomore Alexa Harris swam the 100 yards in 0:57.61, finishing sixth and breaking her old record by over one-half second.

Seven Falcons entered the 200 freestyle event, and four of those swimmers scored points for Bowling Green. Emily Bennet (sixth) and Andrea Brown (ninth) each recorded a top-ten finish, while juniors Megan Bomicino and Katie Womack also scored points, finishing 11th and 13th, respectively. As a group, they totaled 30 points.

Three of the six Falcons swimmers to participate in the 100 butterfly finished in the top ten, and two placed among the top three to give BGSU 40 points.

Vicky Yu earned the second place finish with a time of 0:56.27, just seven-tenths of a second behind the winner, while senior Sarah Burston finished right on Yu's heels, recording a time of 0:56.68. Carrie Enright (0:57.68) placed tenth.

Two more top-ten finishes were achieved with two entries in the 400 IM. Kristina Roop (4:36.30) took seventh, while Katie Womack earned another high mark, placing ninth in 4:38.79.

The morning session also included two relays. The Orange and Brown used two teams to place third (1:45.31) and eighth (1:47.47) in the 200 medley relay, scoring 54 points in the process. Two other teams placed fifth and ninth, respectively, in the 800 free relay.

In all, the Falcons had 14 top-ten finishes in the morning events; no team totaled more than 15. That included six in the top-five and two runner-up finishes.

The night session included three individual and two relay races. During those events, the Falcons picked up another 13 top-ten finishes for a total of 27 during the second day of the meet. Only Michigan's 29 exceeded BG's total.

The Falcons entered two teams in both the 200 free and 400 medley relays. In the 200 free, Sarah Reinink won her split (23.83) as the team finished third (1:35.52), less than a second behind the leader. Bowling Green also earned a tenth-place finish in the race.

The 400 medley relay included a fourth-place Falcon finish in just 3:48.85, just off the pool record, while BGSU's second team placed eighth.

In the individual events, the Falcons placed four swimmers in the top ten during the 50 freestyle race. Brittany Szekely topped them all, establishing one of BGSU's top ten all-time personal bests by placing fourth in 0:23.89. Sarah Reinink touched the finish almost instantly after Szekely, finishing in 0:23.92 for fifth place.

Carrie Enright (seventh) and Emily Bennet (tenth) also placed as the Falcons earned 48 points in that event.

The 200 IM proved to be nearly as successful, as four Falcons combined to score 33 points, led by Vicky Yu (2:08.60) in sixth place and Sarah Burston (2:09.18) in eighth.

Megan Bomicino led Bowling Green by completing the 500 free in 5:04.41 to place fifth. Jen Beatty and Kristina Roop also earned points.

Bowling Green now has a month to prepare for another showdown with Eastern Michigan, this time in a dual meet at Cooper Pool. That action begins at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 14th.