Team Previews Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The MAC Women’s Swimming & Diving season begins this weekend as No.25 Akron, Ball State, Buffalo, Miami, Ohio, and Toledo get in the pool for the first time. Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green will begin their respective schedules the following weekend.

The 2025 MAC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship will take place Feb. 6-March 1 in Buffalo, N.Y., hosted by the University at Buffalo.

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Akron Zips – Akron Zips Classic, Oct. 11-12
The No. 25 Akron Zips women's swimming and diving program opens the 2024-25 season on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 11-12, by hosting the Akron Zips Classic at the Ocasek Natatorium.

Akron was recently picked to finish first in the MAC in the 2024-25 preseason coaches poll and ranked No. 25 in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America preseason poll. 

The field includes four women's and three men's teams from Akron, Denison, Xavier, and Youngstown State.

Ohio Bobcats – Vs. Toledo, Oct. 11
The Ohio swim and dive team may be young, but they're hungry for victories in 2024-25. 

Last season, Ohio went 7-0 through dual meets and 4-0 in the MAC. Only two opponents from that schedule – Illinois State and Marshall – are on this season's schedule.  However, the majority of that team returns this winter, with a handful of new faces joining as well.

Before winter break, Ohio will take part in several dual meets. They will host Toledo to open the season and then will travel to Illinois State in October, as well as Miami in November. Ohio's last two events before the break are the TYR '85 Invite, at which Ohio finished third in 2023, and The Toyota U.S. Open.

The Bobcats will kick off January with the Buffalo Diving Invite before their last two dual meets at Marshall and then Eastern Michigan in February in Athens for Senior Day. 

Ohio's final meet before the MAC Championship is the OSU Winter Invite in Columbus, Ohio. 

The Bobcats found success in their home pool at the MAC Championships last season. Their plethora of podium finishers, including Freshman of the Year Zita Szoke (Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary), helped the Bobcats to a third-place team finish. Szoke won the 200-yard freestyle, and DiBetta took home the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke titles. It was the Bobcats' highest finish since 2013. 

Ohio still has plenty of time before then, though. Its first meet will occur this weekend (Oct. 11) in Athens when they host MAC foe Toledo. The dual is set to begin at 2 p.m. in the Aquatic Center and can be viewed on ESPN+. 

Buffalo Bulls – Vs. Cornell, Oct. 12
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo swimming & diving team opens their 2024-25 season on Saturday, October 12^th, at noon in the Alumni Arena Natatorium and Dorsi Raynolds Pool against Cornell University.

The Bulls enter the new season with 24 returning student-athletes and five newcomers. Head Coach Andy Bashor enters his 19th season at the helm of the Buffalo Swimming & Diving program, with Head Diving Coach Russ Dekker beginning his tenth season leading the diving team.

Buffalo Swimming & Diving will host four more home events this season, including the annual UB Diving Invite and the 2025 Mid-American Conference Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. 

Ball State Cardinals – Vs. UIC, Oct. 12
MUNICE, Ind. – The Ball State men's and women's swimming & diving teams are just over a day away from kicking off their 2024-25 campaign.

On top of being named First-Team All-MAC last season, Callie Tuma claimed Ball State's first individual league title since 2021 after placing first in the 1650 freestyle at the 2024 MAC Championships. Tuma, a junior, knows what she needs to do to continue her success this season.

At the 2024 CSCAA National Invitational Championships, Tuma placed 33rd in the 1650 freestyle after a two-week training period from her first-place performance at the MAC Championships. In preparation for this year's championships, Tuma has plotted her game plan to come back even stronger.

The men's and women's programs will begin their seasons on Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. inside the Lewellen Aquatic Center as they go against UIC.

Eastern Michigan Eagles – at Cleveland State, Oct. 18
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University swimming & diving team is set to travel to Cleveland, Ohio, where it will open its 2024-25 season with a meet against the Vikings of Cleveland State University Friday, Oct. 18, 3 p.m.
 
Fans can stay tuned to EMUEagles.com for a post-meet recap with full results attached. Also, stay tuned to the team's social media accounts on Instagram, X, and Facebook for live in-meet content.
 
ALL-TIME AGAINST CLEVELAND STATE
The Eagles hold a perfect 12-0 record against the Vikings, dating back to the two institutions first all-time meeting, Nov. 9, 1990, a 164-134 win for the Eagles. The Eagles and Vikings last met in the 2004-05 season, Nov. 12, when Eastern bested CSU, 169-66. On average, Eastern has won meets against Cleveland State by 64 points.
 
ENTERING YEAR SIX UNDER PERKINS
The program is entering its sixth year under Head Swimming Coach Derek Perkins. Overall, Perkins holds a 12-19 record, and 9-10 mark in Mid-American Conference (MAC) competition. The program has seen 64 Academic All-MAC selections and four College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America teams.

THE SEASON AHEAD
Eastern is set to compete in nine regular season meets in 2024-25, culminating in the MAC Championships, Feb. 26-March 1. The Eagles will attend meets in the states of Michigan, Ohio, New York, Florida, and Washington.  
 
TOM GIMM – HEAD DIVING COACH
Perkins announced the hiring of Tom Gimm as the Eagles' Head Diving Coach, June 20. Gimm brings extensive club coaching experience and has also coached in the MAC, as he served as the Head Diving Coach at Ohio University from 2016-18. Gimm most recently served as the Head Diving Coach/Director of Diving Operations for Moss Farms Diving, a junior diving powerhouse with a state-of-the-art facility in Moultrie, Ga. Most recently, his Flying Tigers placed second in the 2024 USA Diving Zone B Championships held at the Moss Farms Diving Facility. Gimm also coached high school standout Tuck Gregory to a Georgia High School Association Individual State Championship in 2024.
 
RETURNERS/NEWCOMERS
This year's Eagles team returns 23 letterwinners from the 2023-24 squad, and welcomes nine newcomers to the team, all of which are freshmen, including Riess Estep, Aisling Gutierrez , Nehir Guven, Rose Kendrick, Megan Lupa, Nehir Oz, Taityn Speier, Azra Umut, and Adley Zamore.

DIVING LEADER
On the boards, the Eastern squad is led by senior diver Rebekah Knapp, who earned a second-place finish in the 3m dive at the MAC Championships last season, with a personal-best score of 301.15.
 
SWIMMING LEADERS
In the pool, the Eagles return Kiersten Russell, who clocked the fifth-fastest 100y backstroke time in program history in 54.33. Joining Russell is Nina Larosa, who notched the program's eighth-best 100y breaststroke time in 1:03.00 as a freshman last season. Among Russell and Larosa is Abby Szadorski, who bettered her eighth-best program time in the 200y breaststroke, completing the event in 2:16.60.
 
MAC COACHES PRESEASON POLL
In a poll with the MAC's eight head coaches, the Eagles' team was picked to finish sixth in the MAC standings for the upcoming 2024-25 campaign.
 
Toledo Rockets – at Ohio, Oct. 11
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's swimming and diving team kicks off its 2024-25 season at Mid-American Conference foe Ohio on Friday, Oct. 11. The meet will take place at the Ohio University Aquatic Center at 2:00 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.

Friday's meet serves as the first of the season for the Rockets and the Bobcats. Ohio finished third in the Mid-American Conference Championships last season, while the Rockets took seventh.

The meet also marks the debut for first-year head coach Jacy Dyer, who returns 22 student-athletes, including 19 swimmers and three drivers. The team brings in 10 newcomers, nine swimmers, and one diver for the 2024-25 season.

Bowling Green Falcons – at Canisius with Siena and Rochester, Oct. 19
 BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – When BGSU director of athletics Derek van der Merwe initially met head swim & dive coach Tanner Barton, he was "immediately struck by his contagious passion and energy" as referenced during Barton's introductory press conference in April.

That energy has been a constant theme for the first-year BGSU head coach and has radiated throughout the 2024-25 version of the Falcons.

Barton has built his program around three guiding principles – the team is greater than the individual, having fun on the pool deck while also working hard and celebrating small victories. He hopes these statutes will help instill a championship culture for a team that has finished last at the MAC Championship in three of the past four seasons.

Barton lists freshman Samia Becdach – who he says her performances "will be instrumental in how our team does this season" – and senior Elayna Krupp as the team's top sprint freestylers. Graduate student Livia Castro, sophomore Abby Toepfer and junior Morgan Sokol will lead the way in distance freestyle.

The butterfly events are where the team has the most depth according to Barton, as freshman Karina Solera, graduate student Ava Vial, junior Grace Bodrock and senior Fabiana D'Ambrogio are swimmers he sees potential in.

As for breaststrokers, sophomore Joanna Robertson, junior Madison Bond, freshman Alyse Sorg, senior Abigail Dolliver and sophomore Grace Perlberg – who has dealt with multiple injuries in the past but has trained well in the offseason according to Barton – will look to be valuable components for the Falcons.

Junior Emily McNicol, sophomore Alexandra Johnson and Sokol will highlight the backstrokers while Vial, Bond and senior Lily Kaiser will swim IM events.

Third-year diving coach Michael Retcher has seven divers competing on this year's squad, two of which are newcomers. Two of the returners, junior Evie Long and sophomore Natalia Mayorga, qualified for NCAA Diving Zones last season.

Graduate student Elise Snyder, who transferred out of Bowling Green last year but is now back with the squad, earned a spot at NCAA Diving Zones in 2023.

Sophomores Lilly Lacey and Victoria Miller join freshmen Aylen Velazquez and Claire Werner as the other divers looking to add depth to the mix for a unit that has sent four divers to NCAA Diving Zones in each of the last two seasons.

For the program as a whole, trying to find a place in a highly competitive, mid-major conference is something Barton will continue to strive for using his energy and guiding principles to lead the Falcons in a positive direction.