Lindsey Rayhill sets school record, surpasses NCAA "B" Cut in 200 fly to lead Women's Swimming & Diving on final day of Wooster Invitational

By Tim Glon

WOOSTER -- Senior Lindsey Rayhill broke her own school record and surpassed the NCAA "B" Cut in the 200 fly to lead the Ohio Northern women's swimming & diving team on the third and final day of the Wooster Invitational on Saturday at the Shapiro Natatorium and the Wooster Natatorium.

The Polar Bears finished sixth of 10 teams with 940 points.

Nationally-ranked NCAA Division II schools Edinboro (Pa.) and Gannon (Pa.) finished 1-2 in the team standings. No. 30-ranked Edinboro won the meet with 1574points, No. 28 Gannon was second with 1355 points and Division III Westminster (Pa.) was third with 1116.5 points.

After mising the NCAA "B" Cut in the 100 fly by .1 of a second on Friday, Rayhill bettered that cut in the 200 fly on Saturday, finishing third out of 29 swimmers in a school-record 2:06.08.

The Women's 400 Free Relay's showed depth, finishing third and ninth in front of a boisterous championship environment in the meet's final event. 

Freshman Emily Uhrin, sophomore Allison Lohnes, freshman Jill Chapman and Rayhill were third in 3:35.79 and freshman Molly Wheeler, senior Jennifer Hartsel, junior Ashley Zoeller and sophomore Lindsey Inkrott were ninth in 3:42.08.

In the 200 back, Lohnes finished third in 2:07.46 and Inkrott finished seventh in 2:10.57.

Uhrin and Chapman also had a top-10 finishes in the 100 free, as Uhrin was seventh in :53.88 and Chapman was tenth in :53.74.

"Over the course of the last three days, it was exciting to see the effort of training transfer to racing," ONU head coach Peggy Ewald said. "This meet gave us a snippet of what's to come as we transition into the second half of our season next week. We saw some depth in many of our events and will need to build on this going forward. We reached some target goals, and now need to set a few new benchmarks, and aim to continue sharpening our skills in preparation for the next phase." 

The top 24 individuals and top 16 relay teams score points in the meet.

The Polar Bears will return home on Friday to host Findlay in a 6 pm dual meet at the ONU Sports Center Natatorium.