@DubC_Swimming women open OAC champs with a bang

Posted: Feb 16, 2017

AKRON- TThe Wilmington College women's swimming team completed session one of the 2017 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Championship Thursday morning. This three-day championship meet consists of a prelims and finals session each day. From each morning prelims session, the top 16 times advance to the finals session with the top eight times swimming in the championship final heat and the bottom eight times swimming in the consolation final heat. Only final session swims are eligible for points.

Thursday's prelim session consisted of four events: 200-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, and the 400-yard medley relay and the Fightin' Quakers competed extremely well as 13 of the 14 individual swims were significant season bests.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The quartet of freshmen Hannah Houston (Morrow, OH/Wilmington) and Alyssa Rogers (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge), senior Elyse Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Mount Notre Dame), and junior Samantha Glish (Louisville, KY/Ballard) opened the meet with the 200-yard freestyle relay. The group finished the race in 1:48.74, which currently has the team seeded sixth going into tonight's final session.
In the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Rachel O'Donnell (Seven Hills, OH/Normandy) was the top finisher for the Fightin' Quakers with her time of 5:44.00. This time places her at 18th, the second-alternate for tonight's finals. Senior Haley Rowland (Fairborn, OH/Xenia Christian) finished just behind, snagging 19th place with a time of 5:44.13. Next to finish was sophomore Ellyse Herr (Edison, OH/Mount Gilead). Herr's time of 5:59.01 earned 23rd. Freshman Samantha Harter (North Canton, OH/Glen Oak) also competed in 500; she finished 27th with a time of 6:29.11.
Freshman Laura Swinehart (Lancaster, OH/Fairfield Union) was the lone Fightin' Quaker to compete in the 200-yard individual medley. Swinehart finished 21st with a time of 2:34.25.
WC had the strongest showing of the morning in the 50-yard freestyle with two women qualifying for the championship final and one for the consolation final. Houston clocked in at 24.66 and is seeded third for tonight's championship final. Glish will join Houston in tonight's championship final, barely squeaking in, with her eighth-place finish (25.19) this morning. Rogers will compete for the Fightin' Quakers in the consolation final tonight, as she finished this morning in fourteenth-place with a time of 25.78.
Senior Kathryn Spitznogle (Waynesville, OH/Waynesville) posted a 27.81 in the women's 50-yard freestyle to earn twenty-first-place. Junior Savanna Burcham finished just behind, with a time of 28.56 for 23rd. Senior teammate Jordynn Wise (Bryan, OH/Bryan) touched the wall next for the Fightin' Quakers in 29.5 for 25th. Sweeping places 30-32, respectively, were junior Natalie Thobe (Piqua, OH/Piqua), and juniors Sarah Heitkamp (Portland, IN/Jay County) and Susan Householder (Lancaster, OH/Lancaster). Their respective times were 31.08, 31.47, and 32.01.
Spitznogle, Rogers, Spraul, and Swinehart joined forces to form a 400-medley relay to close this morning's session. The quartet finished in 4:36.10, earning the team a sixth-place seed for tonight's final.