Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, September 29
Bowling Green, Ohio
6:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
St. Francis
Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications
Falcons Begin Season Against St. Francis at Cooper Pool
September 28, 2017 | Women's Swimming & Diving
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University swimming and diving team opens their 2017-18 season on Friday evening (Sept. 29) when they host the St. Francis University Red Storm. The dual meet begins at 6:00 p.m. and will be held at Cooper Pool, which is located inside the Student Recreation Center on the BGSU campus.
Head coach Matt Ense said, "We will be doing a sprint format against St. Francis to get the dual meet season started. In my 11 years of college coaching, this is the first time we will have a relay in the middle of a dual meet, and we will contest 3 relays during the 16 event meet. This will be an exciting way for the team to start the season and get those racing jitters out of the way. St. Francis has a strong team and will come in ready to give us a tough contest. They are coming off of one of their best seasons in program history and have a very strong group of freshmen. Both teams want to start the year with a win, so it should be a great meet on Friday night."
Ense returns for this third season with the Falcons with a core group of 18 swimmers and divers that finished last season with a 6-6 mark in dual meets. In addition, the team finished second of six teams at the Dennis Stark Relays, fourth of ten at the Miami Invitational, and sixth at the MAC Championships.
Among the returning Falcon stars are senior Natalie Criswell and sophomore Talisa Lemke. Criswell is a distance freestyle swimmer who broke the BGSU records in the 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle at last year's MAC Championships. Both marks fell in the 1650 race, as she completed the first 1000 in 10:00.15 and finished the full distance in 16:31.89. The record in the 1650 broke her own record, which she established one month prior at the Akron Invitational (16:49.95). At that event, Criswell broke a record that had stood for 19 years. Lemke is a diver who won the 2017 MAC Freshman Diver of the Year and was named second-team All-MAC. She set school records in the three-meter (323.15) and one-meter (293.15) events and qualifed for the NCAA Zones in each. At the Zones, she placed 16th in the preliminary round for both events, then finished 15th (one-meter) and 18th (three-meter) in the finals.
In addition, BGSU returns four other athletes who competed in either an A or B final at the 2017 MAC Championships, including Mary Edwards, Megan Larson, Elodie Schreiber, and Emily Verbrugger. Ense will also have 15 newcomers on the squad for Friday's meet.
St. Francis is led by head coach Rory Coleman, who begins his fifth season with the Red Flash. Coleman's squad returns 17 athletes from last year's edition, including Karilyn Quon and Katie Lafferty, each of whom own school records. St. Francis compiled an 11-8 record during the 2016-17 season and finished fourth of seven teams at the Northeast Conference Championships.
Follow @falconswimdive on Twitter for in-meet updates, then return to BGSUFalcons.com later on Friday evening for complete results.
EVENT ORDER
200 Medley Relay
200 Freestyle
50 Freestyle
1 meter Diving
50 Breaststroke
100 Butterfly
100 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Backstroke
500 Freestyle
200 Freestyle Relay
100 Backstroke
50 Butterfly
100 Breaststroke
3 meter Diving
400 Freestyle Relay
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Head coach Matt Ense said, "We will be doing a sprint format against St. Francis to get the dual meet season started. In my 11 years of college coaching, this is the first time we will have a relay in the middle of a dual meet, and we will contest 3 relays during the 16 event meet. This will be an exciting way for the team to start the season and get those racing jitters out of the way. St. Francis has a strong team and will come in ready to give us a tough contest. They are coming off of one of their best seasons in program history and have a very strong group of freshmen. Both teams want to start the year with a win, so it should be a great meet on Friday night."
Ense returns for this third season with the Falcons with a core group of 18 swimmers and divers that finished last season with a 6-6 mark in dual meets. In addition, the team finished second of six teams at the Dennis Stark Relays, fourth of ten at the Miami Invitational, and sixth at the MAC Championships.
Among the returning Falcon stars are senior Natalie Criswell and sophomore Talisa Lemke. Criswell is a distance freestyle swimmer who broke the BGSU records in the 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle at last year's MAC Championships. Both marks fell in the 1650 race, as she completed the first 1000 in 10:00.15 and finished the full distance in 16:31.89. The record in the 1650 broke her own record, which she established one month prior at the Akron Invitational (16:49.95). At that event, Criswell broke a record that had stood for 19 years. Lemke is a diver who won the 2017 MAC Freshman Diver of the Year and was named second-team All-MAC. She set school records in the three-meter (323.15) and one-meter (293.15) events and qualifed for the NCAA Zones in each. At the Zones, she placed 16th in the preliminary round for both events, then finished 15th (one-meter) and 18th (three-meter) in the finals.
In addition, BGSU returns four other athletes who competed in either an A or B final at the 2017 MAC Championships, including Mary Edwards, Megan Larson, Elodie Schreiber, and Emily Verbrugger. Ense will also have 15 newcomers on the squad for Friday's meet.
St. Francis is led by head coach Rory Coleman, who begins his fifth season with the Red Flash. Coleman's squad returns 17 athletes from last year's edition, including Karilyn Quon and Katie Lafferty, each of whom own school records. St. Francis compiled an 11-8 record during the 2016-17 season and finished fourth of seven teams at the Northeast Conference Championships.
Follow @falconswimdive on Twitter for in-meet updates, then return to BGSUFalcons.com later on Friday evening for complete results.
EVENT ORDER
200 Medley Relay
200 Freestyle
50 Freestyle
1 meter Diving
50 Breaststroke
100 Butterfly
100 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Backstroke
500 Freestyle
200 Freestyle Relay
100 Backstroke
50 Butterfly
100 Breaststroke
3 meter Diving
400 Freestyle Relay
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Players Mentioned
Freestyle/IM
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Diver
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Backstroke/IM
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Breaststroke/IM
/ Women's Swimming & DivingBG Swim/Dive : Ava Vial Postmeet 2.2
Monday, February 05
BG Swim/Dive : Coach Perkins Postmeet 2.4
Sunday, February 04
BG Ziggys : Daisy Platts
Monday, April 25
BG S/D : Coach Perkins Post-Mac's 2.26
Sunday, February 27