The BG swim team hit the road for a weekend-long meet at Northwestern University.
The Falcons finished fourth out of nine with a total of 582 points.
Michigan State, Missouri State and North Dakota were among the competitors the Falcons faced in the pool over the three-day competition.
Friday started the meet where the Falcons started fast, ending the day one point behind second place. It was a close ending as Michigan State barely gave the Falcons third, coming in two points behind for fourth place.
BG won two events of the day, taking over the 50 freestyle with a first, third and seventh finish. Brittany Szekely took the number-one spot with a time of 23.32 while Victoria Griffin glided in for third. Kayla Effinger grabbed the seventh finish.
The 200 freestyle relay was the second win for Bowling Green, and the first relay of the meet. The team of Griffin, Joëlle Scheps, Effinger and Szekely cruised for the win with a time of 1:33.42.
Later in the day, the 400 medley relay team would come in third.
Saturday would be another steady day for Bowling Green, ending the events in fourth pace, trailing third by 38 points.
The 200 medley and 800 freestyle teams took second place in each event. Unable to come away with first place finishes, the team did snag a few individual top ten finishes.
In the Championship Final, Jordan Bullock would get seventh in the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.37. Scheps would finish seventh in the 200 freestyle while Daniela Carrillo and Carmen Young finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke. Maya Skorupski would also take seventh in the 100 backstroke.
Going into Sunday, the final day of competition, BG came out strong, breaking school records and personal bests.
In the finals of the 100 freestyle, Griffin would set the school record as the only swimmer in BGSU history to post a time under 50 seconds. She swam it in 49.87, beating Szekely’s previous record of 50.31 set last year.
Griffin also earned the NCAA “B” cut time in the 100 freestyle which means she has a chance to compete in the NCAA Championships. She is the first Falcon this year to qualify.
On top of Griffin’s win, the relay teams continued to show strength throughout the weekend. The 400 freestyle relay, with the team of Griffin, Effinger, Scheps and Szekely, hitting the wall for second. The team took four seconds off of their previous season-best time finishing in 3:25.33.
Carrillo would also shine in the 200 breaststroke, taking the second finish and just missing the NCAA “B” cut time. The cut time stands at 2:15.99 while Carrillo posted a 2:16.22.
In the 50 butterfly, Scheps earned some points coming in third. She ended the meet as the team-high scorer bringing in 65 points for the Falcons.
“I think definitely the last day, we pulled it all together and the focus was there and people swam very well,” head coach Petra Martin said.
Northwestern would take the first place overall with 1,066 points. Michigan State ended second with 657 while Missouri State earned third with 583. BG was right behind in fourth with 582.
This wasn’t a bad finish, though, as the Falcons cannot participate in the diving events.
“It was good,” Martin said. “There were three diving events, as well, so I think overall we swam well and I’m happy with the finish.”
Illinois-Chicago, Truman State, North Dakota, Kenyon and Northern Iowa finished up the list.
The Falcons now have a break until their next match in December. Bowling Green will travel to Knoxville, Tenn. for the US Short Course Nationals Dec. 5-7.
