Falcons at Akron Invite

Friday, January 27

Akron, OH

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Akron January Invite

January 29, 2017 | Women's Swimming & Diving

By: Daniela Carrillo

Final Results - Session One
Final Results - Session Two
Final Results - Session Three

Akron, OH – The BGSU Falcons faced one win and one loss this weekend at the 2017 Akron Invite. Natalie Criswell broke a 19-year-old school record.

The past two days at the 2017 Akron Invite showed a great amount of potential, performance wise, for the Falcons to work from for the next 24 days and going into the MAC championships. The meet consisted of three sessions in a time frame of two days. Along with the orange and brown, the Akron Zips and the Youngstown Penguins took part in competition.

One Win, One Loss
The Akron Zips are the reigning MAC champions, and have been for three consecutive seasons. Ranked fifth in the MAC, the BGSU Falcons took a loss against the Zips with a final score of 227-118. On the other side of the pol were the Penguins, who are not a part of the MAC. However, the Falcons still raced them at the Invite, coming out victorious.

Session One
The first event of the Invite was the 400 medley relay, in which the Falcons ended in second place behind the Zips with a time of 3:44.09. Then came the 500 freestyle, in which Natalie Criswell took third place for the Falcons. The 200 IM was an event in which Emily Verbrugge had the fastest time (2:04.80) for the orange and brown, which earned her fourth place in the event. Similarly, but now in the 50 freestyle, was Megan Larson with the fastest time for the Falcons (23.41) finishing fifth in the event. The 1-meter diving event had Claire Stam with the highest score for BGSU (259.20), which earned her sixth place in the event. The last event of the night was the 800 freestyle relay, in which the orange and brown earned second place with a time of 7:32.69, only behind reigning MAC champions the Akron Zips.

Session Two
The second session started with the 200 freestyle relay, in which the BGSU A relay touched the wall at 1:34.56 finishing second. The Falcons' fastest swimmer for the next five events finished in second place. The 400 IM had Mary Edwards record a time of 4:32.81. Freshman Danica Garbett stopped the clock at 57.39 in the 100 butterfly. The 200 freestyle had Natalie Criswell stop the clock at 1:53.33. Kristin Filby finished the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.56. the last event of the night was the 100 backstroke, in which Maya Skorupski touched the wall at 55.66.

Session Three – Falcons Breaking Records
The last session of the invite started off with the 200 medley relay, in which the Falcons finished second with a time of 1:42.31. Junior, Natalie Criswell, broke the school record in the 1650 freestyle. The previous school record was set 19 years ago at 16:50.00. Criswell was .05 faster, recording a 16:49.95 to become the new school record holder going into the 2017 MAC championships. Her record breaking performance was enough to earn her second place in the event. Then came the 200 backstroke, in which Elodie Schreiber touched the wall in a time of 2:00.46 to finish second. Freshman, Hannah Paris was the fastest Falcon in the 100 freestyle, finishing second with a time of 51.62. A time of 2:22.42 was enough to earn Emily Verbruggee second place in the 200 breatstroke. Danica Garbett stopped the clock at 2:05.36 in the 200 butterfly to earn second place. The final diving event was the 3-meter, in which Claire Stam was the highest scoring Falcon. The sophomore had a final score of 262.50 to finish second in the event. Then came the 400 freestyle relay, the final event of the meet. A final time of 3:28.06 was wnough to earn the Falcons' A relay second place in the event.

Next stop for the Falcons comes Feb. 3^rd at Oakland University starting at 5PM. Keep up with your Falcons in their journey to the 2017 MAC Championships.