Bowling Green rains on swimmers' parade

Junior is typically a word that refers to something smaller, younger or inferior. Saturday afternoon it meant the exact opposite.

The women's swimming and diving team fell to Bowling Green 181-119 at the Alumni Arena Natatorium on Saturday, but its junior class came up big, as a third-year swimmer took every event that the Bulls won.

Despite the loss, 119 points is a season-high for the Bulls. Interim head coach Scott Vanderzell said he was happy with his team's tenacity.

"They were competitors," Vanderzell said. "They did a great job competing today, and swimming really smart races."

Kahla Walkinshaw, who won both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events, led the parade of juniors for Buffalo (3-8, 0-6 Mid-American Conference). Walkinshaw completed the 200-meter race in 2:05:32, a personal best. Although Walkinshaw had not competed in the 100-meter since Dec. 3, she still was able to win the event with a time of 58.59.

Buffalo juniors also took a one-two finish in the 200-yard breaststroke as Julie Marcotte won with a time of 2:27.70 and Danielle Gervais took second with a time of 2:28.65. In addition to her second-place finish, Gervais also won in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.82.

Junior Eugene Viale continued her recent success in the 1,000-yard freestyle, recording a victory with a personal best time of 10:48.71. This is the third consecutive meet in which Viale has re-established her personal best time in the race.

Despite the fact that Bowling Green (1-5-1, 1-4-1 MAC) won 12 of the 16 races, Vanderzell does not believe that the 62-point defeat reflects the way his team swam.

"It was outstanding swimming," Vanderzell said. "It was a very tight meet from start to finish. The score may not reflect that but, so many of the events were touchups, especially the first and the last relay."

With the team still looking for its first MAC win, Vanderzell believes that the problem has not been the quality of his swimmers, rather the quantity.

"We're doing a great job of racing," Vanderzell said. "Unfortunately we're a small team, and in the MAC, depth is everything. Right now as a team, we just don't have any depth."

Looking ahead to the final push toward the MAC championships, Vanderzell believes the team's work lies more in the mental aspects of swimming, rather than physical.

"More race strategy, and continue to swim smart races," Vanderzell said of what is needed for success in the future. "Our fitness is very good, basically what we are going to need is rest. This time of the year, everybody's tired. I think the big thing that we need to focus on is being mentally tough."

The Bulls will have one last chance to pick up a conference win this season, when they travel to Eastern Michigan (8-2, 5-1 MAC) next Saturday. The meet is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.