Recap courtesy of Bowling Green's Athletic Communications Department
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green women's swim and dive team closed out its two-day dual meet against UTRGV with another commanding performance Saturday at Cooper Pool, earning a 373-161 victory and completing one of the strongest dual-meet weekends of the season.
The Falcons opened the morning session with a win in the 400 medley relay as
Emily McNicol,
Corine Rieskamp,
Grace Bodrock and
Annie Berrow posted a 3:50.37 to continue the momentum from Friday night. Head coach
Tanner Barton said the depth on display throughout the weekend made an immediate impact.
"We have some great depth right now, and it was fun to watch our swimmers compete in primary events and secondary events," Barton said. "They were really getting after it, and the results speak for themselves."
Bowling Green strengthened its lead with a sweep of the 1650 freestyle where
Caroline Toledo won in 17:34.01 followed by
Lourdes Manderfield (17:54.03) and
Morgan Sokol (18:13.88). In the 200 freestyle,
Samia Becdach touched first in 1:53.58 and
Alexandra Johnson claimed the 200 butterfly in 1:06.22. McNicol added another individual win in the 50 freestyle (24.36).
While the Falcons did not take the 1 meter dive they secured key points with
Natalia Mayorga placing second (293.48) and
Elise Snyder finishing third (266.70). Bodrock then reasserted control in the pool with a win in the 100 freestyle (52.89).
BGSU continued to roll as McNicol won the 200 backstroke in 2:03.06, and freshman
Corine Rieskamp captured the 200 backstroke with a 2:27.19. Korina Solera extended the lead in the 500 freestyle (5:13.78) before Becdach returned atop the podium with a 57.93 in the 100 butterfly.
Barton praised McNicol's increasingly strong form heading toward midseason, noting it reflects deliberate work behind the scenes.
"Her getting the NIC A cut at this point in the season is a huge accomplishment, and it's a testament to how hard she's been working in the water and the weight room," Barton said. "We've also worked a lot on her underwater dolphin kicks…She's swimming extremely well because she's training extremely well, and it's going to be fun to watch her throughout the rest of the season."
In the closing events,
Madison Bond delivered a winning 400 IM at 4:35.44 her fastest of the year, before the Falcons finished the meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.66) behind Becdach,
Lauren Jablonski,
Eva Nixon and
Bella Treib.
As the Falcons prepare for the Magnus Cup Invitational from Nov. 20–22, Barton said the team is applying a sharper focus to tactical racing.
"We talked a lot going into this weekend about our racing strategies. How are we swimming the races? How are we going out in that first lap? How are we coming home and finishing? So, we worked on race strategies. Next week, we can implement our race strategies to a tee. I feel like the ladies, based on what the coaching staff and I saw, are executing these strategies and now they'll know exactly what to do going into that multi-team invite on Thursday."