Women’s Swimming and Diving opens 2021-22 season with 3rd-place finish at Kenyon Relays

By Wes Mayberry

GAMBIER — The Ohio Northern women's swimming and diving team opened its 2020-21 season Saturday with a third-place finish at the five-team Kenyon Relays at the Steen Aquatic Center.

Kenyon won the team title with 112 points, Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) was second with 80 points, Ohio Northern was third with 58 points, Ohio Wesleyan was fourth with 52 points and Wittenberg was fifth with 22 points.

Each team scored only its top-finishing team in each relay in a 14-10-8-6-4 format.

In that format, the Polar Bears scored 8 third-place points in five of the eight events.

Northern was third in the 200 medley relay in 1:36.84, the 500 crescendo relay in 5:01.32, the 200 butterfly relay in 1:55.55, the 3x500 freestyle relay in 17:18.62 and the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.46.

Freshman Annie Richters (Troy/Miami East) competed in a team-high four of those events, while senior Megan Lubinski (Loveland/Brighton), junior Gabbie Grant (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Lakeview) and freshmen Mara Brown (Fremont/Ross) and Hannah Eversole (Cincinnati/Mt. Notre Dame) each competed in two.

ONU also finished second in the mixed 200 medley relay with Lubinski and junior Shelby Starkey (Bellefontaine) combining with seniors Jeremy Adams (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ann Arbor Pioneer) and Jackson Stanley (Beavercreek) in 1:43.71.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Friday for a meet at Wilmington and on Saturday against Hope (Mich.) at Hillsdale (Mich.).