Bowling Green swimming and diving continued early-season success with a sizable win against Ball State Friday night. The Falcons had more than 90 points on the Cardinals, taking the win 196.5-103.5.
The Falcons saw wins from sophomores Estela Davis, Victoria Griffin and Kristin Filby. Juniors Kayla Effinger and Jordan Bullock also grabbed wins to move the team ahead.
Davis took first place in the 200 medley relay, 100 backstroke and 400 individual medley. Freshman Natalie Criswell placed first in the 1000 freestyle, adding to the success of the newer swimmers.
With young talent performing well, head swimming coach Petra Martin said she is happy with the progress she has seen so far in the swimmers.
“I’m really happy with the way it’s going and how they are doing,” Martin said. “Last year was kind of tough for them. They had a lot of hurdles to jump through and it wasn’t easy for them to get adjusted to everything, but they are a little bit more mature now.”
Continuing her domination in the freestyle races from last year, Griffin finished first in the 50 and 200 freestyle races.
Bowling Green snagged the first seven out of eight events, putting them ahead of the Cardinals 104-27 going into diving.
Ball State carried the podium in the 1- and 3-meter dives, but head diving coach Alex Gauvin said he was pleased seeing his divers take on real competition.
“I liked that we went in there and they showed me exactly the things that we’ve been working on in practice,” Gauvin said, “which is all the mechanics and basics that are needed to build a strong diving foundation that we are going to be using in the next couple of years. I liked that they went in there and they learned.”
In upcoming meets, Gauvin wants to work on more difficult dives in hopes of increasing scores.
“We’re going to start adding flips to the dives,” Gauvin said. “We’re going to increase the degree of difficulty. We’re going to start working on some more complex skills. We’re constantly working on those mechanics and those basics but we’re going to start adding to them now.”
Opening up swimming after the 1-meter, Kayla Effinger grabbed first in the 100 freestyle, while Maya Skorupski carried the winning over into the 200
backstroke.
Bowling Green won five out the last eight events, with first through third place sweeps in the 200 backstroke and 200
breaststroke.
Junior Jordan Bullock got two wins to open the season, and Daniela Carrillo earned first in the 200 breaststroke.
With away meets coming next, Martin is focusing on preparing the team for traveling meets.
“It’s very different racing on the road after you sit on the bus for a little bit,” Martin said. “Our big thing for the next race is going to be to get them mentally ready for being able to race fast somewhere else.”
Next the Falcons take on Oakland and Eastern Michigan on Nov. 8. The team will be away until mid-January for more home meets.
