Over the weekend, the women’s swimming team struggled, dropping both of their road meets against Toledo and Eastern Michigan to open Mid-American Conference play.
In the meet at Toledo, which took place Friday night, the Falcons lost to the Rockets, 149-93. Although the squad lost, BG had four first place finishes in all.
Alisha Yee won the 200 IM in 2:09.43. Yee beat out Chelsea Lopus, who recorded a time of 2:11.10. Other individual winners were Caroline Keating and Jennifer Wright, who won the 1000 and the 200 yard freestyle, respectively. The Falcons’ 200 meter medley relay team of Yee, Frankie Houck, Meg Richardson and Michael Carriaga recorded a time of 1:49.76, which was good for second.
The next day, the Falcons traveled to Ypsilanti, Michigan to take on the Eagles of Eastern Michigan. The competition was closer, but again the result was the same as the previous night, a 168-128 loss.
“That was a tough meet for us, because everyone was so tired from the meet the night before,” said BG’s Brit O’Connor.
However, there were some outstanding individual performances as well. Lopus recorded her first individual career victory with a time of 59.76 in the 100 yard butterfly. Keating also was victorious in another event, recording a 10:30.39 in the 1000 meter freestyle.
“I thought my performance was OK in the meet, but there’s definitely room for improvement,” Keating said.
Yee had another stellar performance, winning the 100 and 200 meter races, along with the 200 IM. She also finished second in the 100 yard backstroke, while O’Connor finished third in the same race.
The Falcons quarter of Keating, Wright, Houck, and Richardson won the 400 meter freestyle relay with a time of 3:38.59.
In diving action, Ashley Belrose recorded a score of 211, which was earned her third place.
Despite the losses, the team felt as if they performed well.
“We’ve made a lot of progress from the beginning of the year,” O’Connor said. “People were out of shape, but now we are doing well.”
Next Saturday, the Falcons travel to Athens to take on the Bobcats of Ohio University.
“We did a really good job opening up the MAC season,” Keating said. “Our success against MAC teams will determine how good of a team we are. Every meet will give us a chance to get better, and as long as we learn something from it, we will improve.”
