Lohnes, Chapman lead Women's Swimming and Diving to third place finish on final day of OAC Championships
By Tim Glon
| OAC Championships Site | ONU Women's Placers |
AKRON — Senior Allison Lohnes and junior Jill Chapman each won individual titles to lead the Ohio Northern women's swimming & diving team on the third and final day of the 2016 Ohio Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday evening at the University of Akron's Ocasek Natatorium.
The Polar Bears finished third of seven teams with 713 points in the 20 events.
Mount Union won the the team title with 792 points, John Carroll was second with 766 points and Baldwin Wallace was fourth with 349 points.
The top three finishers in individual races and the two two relay teams earn All-OAC honors.
Chapman completed her sweep of the 50 and 100 free sprints in school record fashion. On Saturday, she won the 100 free in :52.18 after winning the 50 free on Thursday in :23.79.
Lohnes completed her sweep of the backstroke events by winning the 200 back in 2:05.11 on Saturday after she won the 100 back on Friday night. She also won the 200 back crown in 2014 as a sophomore.
The 400 free relay team of junior Emily Uhrin, Chapman, sophomore Sydney Veon and Lohnes shattered the OAC and ONU records by more than 1.5 seconds to win the race in 3:32.55.
"This has been a great test for what it will take to continue as a contender for the championship titles," ONU head coach Peggy Ewald said. "As the number of qualifying times for NCAA championships rises in the conference the landscape to get there continues to be sharper. We swam a great meet. The distribution of places is very tight, especially for the women's side, a completely different arena in the past 2 years.
"We had a great meet and capitalized on our strengths. As a coach that's all we can ask. It takes resilience to make the most of such a long season. I feel we took stock of our weaknesses for future development and utilized our strength zones to maximize our position. We are loosing top performers in Allison Lohnes, Mitch Murphy, Zach Martin and Sean O'Neill but with only four seniors this year, a rarity for us, it's promising for the future teams back next year.
"I am very proud of how this men's team came together these past few weeks to uphold the tradition and bring home the 12 consecutive wins. I'm equally proud of how the women rallied to hold on with the smallest team in years. This was a meet of quality performance for us."
The Polar Bears will now wait to see if any swimmers receive a bid to the NCAA III Championships March 16-19 in Greensboro, N.C.
Team Standings
1. Mount Union 792, 2. John Carroll 766, 3. Ohio Northern 713, 4. Baldwin Wallace 349, 5. Transylvania (Ky.) 342, 6. Wilmington 195, 7. Manchester (Ind.) 157.
