Women's Swimming & Diving finishes second of seven at the 2015 OAC Championships

February 21, 2015

By Tim Glon

AKRON — Junior Lindsey Inkrott swept the 100 and 200 back events to lead the Ohio Northern women at the 2015 Ohio Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships Thursday-Saturday at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium.

The Polar Bears finished second of seven teams with 642 points, snapping a streak of six consecutive team titles.

Mount Union won the team title with 832 points, John Carroll was third with 587 points and Transylvania (Ky.) was fourth with 431 points.

"We had a tough go with two major relay losses due to false starts," ONU head coach Peggy Ewald said. "Those cost us around 80 points and the loss of opportunities to advance. We needed those opportunities to move up our NCAA positions.

"The response to those types of defeats require strong character. It requires a shift in perspective, a reevaluating of the true outcome and then resetting. We did that and continued to post significant numbers of quality performances to narrow the gap.It just wasn't enough to bring home the title. Jillian Chapman is an automatic into NCAA in the 50 FREE with a seed position of third. Knowing she was not fully tapered for conference will set her up well for that competition in 4 weeks."

Inkrott won the 100 back in :56.55 and the 200 back in 2:04.31, setting OAC and ONU records and surpassing the NCAA "B" Cut in both events.

She was also on ONU's winning 200 free and 200 medley relay teams.

Junior Allison Lohnes earned All-OAC honors with three second place finishes and as a member of two relay teams.

She was second in the 100 back in an NCAA "B" Cut of :57.03, was second in the 200 back in an NCAA "B" Cut of 2:04.67 and was second in the 200 I.M. in an ONU record 2:09.08.

Inkrott and Lohnes finished 1-2 in the 100 and 200 back. In the 200 back, Inkrott won for the second time in her career, edging defending champ Lohnes by .36 of a second. Both women are 3-time All-OAC honorees in the event.

Last year, Lohnes edged Inkrott for the title. In 2013, Inkrott won and Lohnes was third.

Sophomore Jill Chapman earned All-OAC honors with a second place finish in the 50 free in an NCAA "B" Cut :23.52 and a third place finish in the 100 free in the second consecutive year, this time touching in 53.00.

Inkrott, Lohnes and Chapman swam three of the legs in ONU's championship 200 free and 200 medley relay teams.

The 200 free relay set an OAC record and surpassed the NCAA "B" Cut in 1:35.90 and the 200 medley relay set OAC and ONU records in 1:46.46.

Senior Ashley Zoeller had a pair of third place finished and was named All-OAC in three events overall.

She was third in the 200 free in 1:57.27, was third in the 500 free in the 5:16.54 and was on ONU's second place 800 free relay team.

Sophomore Emily Uhrin finished second in the 200 free in 1:56.52 and was on ONU's second place 800 free relay team, earning ALl-OAC kudos in both events.

Sophomore Brianna Tingley earned All-Conference honors with a 2nd place finish in the 1650 free. It is her second consecutive All-OAC honor in the event after she finished third as a freshman in 2014.

Freshman Sydney Veon and freshman Stephanie Brookens were OAC Champions as members ofthe 200 free relay and 200 medley relay teams, respectively.

Freshman Hailee Sautter earned All-Conference honors as a member of ONU's 800 free relay team that finished second in 7:56.83.

The Polar Bears will return to action March 18-21 at Shenandoah, Tex.

Team Standings

1. Mount Union 832, 2. Ohio Northern 664, 3. John Carroll 587, 4. Transylvania (Ky.) 431, 5. Baldwin Wallace 298, 6. Wilmington 243, 7. Defiance 106.