Starkey sweeps backstroke events, leads Women's Swimming and Diving to fourth place finish on final day of 2024 OAC Championships

Starkey sweeps backstroke events, leads Women's Swimming and Diving to fourth place finish on final day of 2024 OAC Championships
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February 17, 2024

AKRON — Fifth-year senior Shelby Starkey (Bellefontaine) completed her sweep of the back events by winning the 200 back, leading the Ohio Northern women's swimming and diving team on the final day of the 2024 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships meet on Saturday.

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The Basics

  • Records: Ohio Northern (6-7 overall)
  • Venue: Ocasek Natatorium - Akron, Ohio
  • Ohio Northern finished third place out of six teams with 336 points after 13 of the 20 events in the four-day meet.
  • John Carroll won the team crown with 595 points, Mount Union was second with 489 points, Baldwin Wallace was fourth with 307 points, Wilmington was fifth with 206 points and Heidelberg was sixth with 43 points.

Meet Highlights

  • Starkey won the 200 back in 2:11.24, touching just .15 of a second ahead of the second place finisher.
  • She won the 100 back in 1:00.46 on Friday.
  • Senior Katie Bend (Carmel, Ind.) began the night with an All-Conference swim in the 1650 free, touching second in 18:36.98.
  • Junior Hannah Eversole (Cincinnati/Mt. Notre Dame) was sixth in the 200 fly in 2:22.69. Junior Morgan Fernandez (Huber Heights/Wayne) was eighth in the race in 2:25.35.
  • Junior Annie Richters (Troy/Miami East) was seventh in the 100 free in :56.35.
  • Richters, freshman Ashleigh Nelson (Byron Center, Mich.), Bend and junior Mara Brown (Fremont/Ross) wrapped up the evening with a third place finish in the 400 free relay in 3:44.14.

Notables

  • The meet consisted of 20 events, including 13 individual races, five relays and two diving events.
  • The top three individuals and top two relays in each event earn All-Conference honors.
  • The top 16 finishers in each individual event and the two diving events score team points.
  • There were seven events contested on Saturday.
  • Ohio Northern has won 7 OAC Championships titles since 2007.
  • Starkey has won the 100 back twice and 200 back once in her career. She is a 5-time OAC Champion and a 14-time All-OAC honoree.
  • Austin Veltman is now 26-28 in his sixth season as head coach of the Polar Bears.

Up Next

  • Season Complete.