The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
MAC Championships
Swimming and Diving Remains in First Place After Day Two of MAC Championships
February 26 | Women's Swimming & Diving
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Day Two Results | Diving Results | Combined Results
YPSILANTI, Mich. – After entering day two of competition tied for first place with 66 points each, Akron and Buffalo stayed neck-and-neck through the first three events on Thursday night until each of Akron's three divers earned a trip to the podium and the 200 freestyle relay team won its event to propel UA to first place with 242 points in the 2015 Mid-American Conference Championships at Jones Natatorium.
The Zips are followed by Eastern Michigan in second place with 221 points. Buffalo trails close behind with 211. Miami (Ohio) sits in fourth at 184 while Bowling Green rounds out the top five with 168 points.
Hannah Raspopovich, Laura Savariau, Ashley Niznik and Susan Franz made up the MAC champion 200 freestyle relay team. They also set a new Jones Natatorium pool record and a program record in the event with a time of 1:31.22.
Akron is now the back-to-back conference champion in both the 200 freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay, which swam Wednesday night.
This year's 200 free relay team broke the previous Akron program record of 1:31.53 set at last year's conference tournament.
Raspopovich and Niznik are members of UA's two-straight 200 freestyle relay championship teams. The duo was also part of Akron's MAC champion 200 medley relay team on day one along with Franz.
The Zips started the meet in a close battle for first place with the Bulls as Buffalo took first place in each of the first three events.
Junior Ashley Drazkowski delivered Akron its first second-place finish of the night with a time of 4:49.63 in the 500 freestyle to start day two. Sophomore Kara Kaulius also earned a trip to the podium, touching fourth in the event.
Junior Erin Seiler took fourth in the 200 IM, touching at a career-best time of 2:01.62, just .03 seconds shy of the NCAA B cut, while freshman Paloma Marrero Munoz claimed seventh place to put Akron ahead of Buffalo, 130-128.
In the third event, Akron posted its other second-place finish of the night as Raspopovich swam the 50 free in 22.84 seconds, to make the NCAA B cut. Franz followed in eighth place. Buffalo and Akron ended the event tied for first with 163 points heading into the final two events of the day, the one-meter dive and 200 freestyle relay.
Sophomore Paige Kelkenberg led Akron in the diving pool with a fourth-place score of 294.95. Junior Alice Hottensmith placed sixth and sophomore Rachel Aepelbacher came in eighth, allowing Akron to claim sole possession of first with 202 points approaching the 200 freestyle relay.
With the conclusion of the one-meter dive, Eastern Michigan jumped Buffalo in the tally for second place, while Akron's 200 freestyle relay team extended the Zips' first-place lead.
The 2015 MAC Championships continue tomorrow with day three of four. Preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. and finals will commence at 7 p.m. at Eastern Michigan's Jones Natatorium.
Players Mentioned
