Women's Swimming & Diving wraps up regular season with tri-meet at Hillsdale (Mich.)

January 27, 2018

By Tim Glon

HILLSDALE, Mich. — The Ohio Northern women's swimming and diving team wrapped up its regular season with a tri-meet at NCAA Division II foe Hillsdale (Mich.) with No. 20-ranked Case Western Reserve on Saturday afternoon at McAvoy Natatorium.

The Polar Bears (5-4-1 overall) fell to Hillsdale 162-125 and to Case 215-84.

Case (8-2) also defeated Hillsdale (7-2) 184-107.

Sophomore Lauren Halle (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton) and freshman Claire Kaiding (Waterford, Mich./Brandon) each had a second and a third place finish to lead ONU.

Halle was second in the 400 I.M. in 4:52.65 and was third in the 500 free in 5:32.55 and Kaiging was second in the 1-meter diving with 176.15 points and was third in the 3-meter diving with 143.75 points.

Freshman Marissa Taylor (Granite Falls, N.C./South Caldwell) was third in the 200 free in 2:04.08 and the 400 I.M. in 4:55.78.

Senior Sydney Veon (Riverside, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) was second in the 100 back in 1:02.84 and sophomore Libby Sartschev (Parma/Normandy) was second in the 3-meter diving with 163.35 points

Junior Kierra Watson (Brownsburg, Ind.) was third in the 100 back in 1:02.84.

"Last night's meet at Kenyon was a great opportunity to race against the nations best providing a gage of where we are leading into our championship phase," ONU head coach Peggy Ewald said. "Getting to follow that meet with today's meet gave another view of the landscape and what will need to happen over the next 18 days.

"We've been challenged with filling a few spots on the Women's side. We've asked a lot of a few team members in an effort to find the balance in all events. It's a small team, but with some real passion to do the work. It's time to give them some rest. It will be exciting to see where their efforts pay off. We finished our dual season with two days of going up against fast swimmers. It is a great way to set up the next two weeks."

The Polar Bears will take three weeks off to prepare for the 2018 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 15-17 at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium.