The Ohio State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are on the road this coming weekend. The Buckeyes will be at the West Virginia University Natatorium competing in a three-team meet against the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Louisville Cardinals at 5 p.m. tonight.
The men’s team is looking for its second win in Morgantown, W.Va., and should have little difficulty defeating West Virginia and Louisville. The Buckeyes, who finished 10-1 last season, and have had winning seasons for more than a decade, have far more depth than either of these teams. Despite losing many of seniors going into the 2002-2003 season, the Buckeyes have strong returning talent, including Nick Rees and Tommy Seay, as well as a dozen freshmen swimmers, highlighted by Marty Tomes.
The Buckeyes have already shown their dominance against the Ohio University Bobcats on Nov. 1, winning 12 of the 13 events at the meet. Bill Wadley, OSU men’s swim coach, is 123-20 at OSU in his 13 years coaching the Buckeyes.
The women’s team is looking for its second win of the 2002-2003 season. After winning its opener in a close match with the Bobcats, the Buckeyes hope to add to their win column this weekend.
Last season the team gained victories against Louisville, 159-101, and a dominant defeat of West Virginia, 133-102 – winning 10 out of 13 events.
Despite being sick around the time of the Buckey”s opener, freshman Nicole Maglich recorded two individual wins in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle and a third win in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle medley, sealing the victory for the Buckeyes over the Bobcats.
“I’m definitely very excited,” Maglich said of this upcoming meet.
The Buckeyes need to take a winning record into Big Ten play. Last year the Buckeyes struggled against many Big Ten opponents, finishing last at the Big Ten Championships.
“We have a really good shot of going maybe 8-0, 7-1 up to Christmas and into Big Ten meets,” said OSU swim coach Jeanne Fleck.
The Mountaineers men’s swimming and diving team is 2-2 this season. The women’s team is 3-2 so far this season. Last season the women’s team finished 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the Big East conference. Both the Louisville men’s and women’s teams are winless.
