BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Toledo women's swimming and diving team will compete in the 2013 Mid-American Conference Championships Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 28-March 2, at the Alumni Arena Natatorium on Buffalo's campus. The 2010 and 2012 MAC champions will attempt to defend last year's title and capture their third crown in four years.
Preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. each day with the finals at 7:00 p.m. For the complete schedule of events, click on the attached link to the MAC championship page.
The Rockets finished just 2-6 in dual meets during 2012-13 under first-year head coach Chris Peters, but were successful in their only invitational-style meet earning first place at the Akron Zippy Invite on Nov. 30-Dec. 2. Toledo racked up more points than nine other schools, including conference opponents Akron, Buffalo and Ohio.
The Midnight Blue & Gold currently hold top-five regular season MAC times in every individual swimming event besides the 1,650-yard freestyle. Senior Carly Harter leads the way with top-five marks in the 100 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 200 IM and 400 IM. A three-time, First-Team All-MAC selection, Harter set UT records in the 200 IM (1:59.88), 100 Free (49.75) and 200 Free (1:47.24) while finishing second in each event in last year's championship meet.
The list of top-five times also includes sophomore Maria Bargardi and junior Christina Noens who have recorded NCAA "B" cut times in the 200-yard backstroke. Both qualified at the Zippy Invite, as Noens broke the UT record with a time of 1:57.71. Bargardi finished at 1:58.81.
Meredith Gibbon leads the MAC in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:18.56, and is second in the 100 with a time of 1:04.10. The junior won both events at the Zippy Invite, marking her first-collegiate victories as a Rocket.
UT has received solid contribution from junior Beth Rogers and senior McKenzie Bagan as well. Rogers appears within the top-five of three different events - 50 free, 100 fly and 200 fly, while Bagan shows up on both of the fly performance lists.
Divers Nikki Schropp, Kristy Richart and Allison Belcher have qualifed for the NCAA Zone Championships on March 14-16. Schropp qualified for both the three meter and one meter against Miami on Jan. 26 with marks of 285.30 and 278.85, respectively. Richart hit her mark in the three meter versus Denison on Oct. 27 with a score of 289.87. Belcher qualifed for the one meter against Miami with a mark of 272.25.
At last year's MAC Championship, five Rockets earned First-Team All-MAC honors and two others made second team. UT scored 635 points to outlast rival Ohio, who finished second with 612 points.
Toledo came up huge on the second day, scoring 236 points to jump into first place after trailing leader Ohio by 80 points.
Counting all three days of the championships, the Rockets won nine events and set 12 school records, eight pool records, five championship-meet records and four MAC records.
Live stats and streaming will be available each day during this year's meet and can be accessed by clicking on the attached link.
2012-13 MAC Top-Five Times
Event Place Name Time
50 Free 3rd Beth Rogers 23.25
100 Free 5th Carly Harter 51.34
200 Free 2nd Carly Harter 1:50.28
500 Free 2nd Carly Harter 4:55.36
500 Free 4th K. Nunnelly 4:58.45
1000 Free 5th R. Johnson 10:15.97
100 Back 3rd M. Bargardi 56.16
200 Back 1st C. Noens 1:57.71 *B
200 Back 2nd M. Bargardi 1:58.81 *B
100 Breast 2nd M. Gibbon 1:04.10
200 Breast 1st M. Gibbon 2:18.56
100 Fly 2nd Beth Rogers 54.60
100 Fly 4th M. Bagan 55.30
200 Fly 2nd Beth Rogers 2:01.52
200 Fly 3rd M. Bagan 2:02.11
200 IM 3rd Carly Harter 2:03.88
400 IM 2nd Carly Harter 4:23.78
400 IM 3rd R. Johnson 4:24.25
400 IM 5th K. Nunnelly 4:28.33
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