The Ohio State synchronized swimming team will try to float past the competition in their last home meet of the season.The Buckeyes host the North Regional Championships Saturday at Larkins Hall at 12:30 p.m. OSU will face off against Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa, Carlton College, St. Olaf College, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota and Indiana.The team is coming off a strong week, in which they dominated the competition at the Minnesota Invitational. The team rolled through the meet finishing first with 110 points, Minnesota finished second with 60.5 points, followed by: Iowa with 55, Penn State with 47, and Illinois, which only scored 18 points.Coach Linda Lichter-Witter said she was pleased with the team’s performance last week.”The girls looked very good. Our routines were well received by the judges and the audience,” she said.The meet also gave the Bucks a chance to get acquainted with the Golden Gopher’s pool. This is important, because the 1998 National Championship will be held in Minnesota on March 26-28.Assistant coach Holly Vargo Brown said it was important for the team to do well in last week’s meet, to get a feel for the pool. “It’s the competition’s pool, so it really helps that we got a chance to swim there.”Senior Lisa Nielsen said last week’s meet should give the Bucks an advantage over their rival at the national championships. “Since we got a chance to swim their, and Stanford didn’t, it’s like we will have a home court advantage. Lichter-Witter said the team won’t face any tough competition this weekend. “Our toughest competition will be each other,” Lichter-Witter said.Nielsen said the team should not have a problem dominating the meet this weekend. “We’ll use this meet to get our final routines in order.”The Bucks’ will focus on making the team routines as strong as possible before nationals, Lichter-Witter said. “We want our A-team so far ahead of everyone else, that it will give us a chance for our B-team to finish second in competition. This will be very important if we are to beat Stanford.” The team is really looking forward to the national championships, Brown said. “We’re ready to see what these athletes can do.”