There is no rest for the weary.
While many students were enjoying the break from classes last month, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were putting in full days at the pool.
They both dove back into action Saturday at the Mike Peppe Aquatic Center against Big Ten Conference foe Indiana, which fielded the 14th best women’s team in the country.
Neither of the swimming Buckeyes fared well. The men experienced a defeat after the long break, losing 145-96. The women were able to put up some good performances against the ranked Indiana women who came away with the win, 150.5-84.5.
Heading into the meet, the men’s squad was undefeated and looking for a good start in the Big Ten. Instead, they looked like they were still adjusting to being back in competition.
“Totally disappointed, totally disappointed,” said OSU men’s swim coach Bill Wadley. “We didn’t have a good day.”
For the other Buckeye unit, despite being up against the best in the conference, they were able to post big individual performances.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a tough meet,” said OSU women’s swim coach Jeanne Fleck. “We had some really, really good swims.”
Leading the way was freshman Deanna Strunk, who appears to have picked up right where she left off before the break. After scoring Big Ten Swimmer of the Week honors for her performance against Cleveland State on Nov. 26, she topped that performance by again hitting career best times.
She won the 400-yard individual medley in 4:24.58, picking up the lone win for the Buckeyes in 13 events.
Struck followed her win with a second-place finish and another career best with a 2:04.13 in the 200-yard butterfly. In both instances, the freshman shaved two seconds off her best time.
“This week we’ve been racing really hard trying to get our timing back,” Struck said. “It’s a lot different when you’re not racing someone else.”
The Buckeyes took only six days off during the break. The women trained in the Florida Keys, while the men spent time in the Bahamas.
The men had a tough start and an even harder time recovering as they looked to remain unbeaten. After freshman Marty Thomas scored an early win in the 200-yard freestyle, it was all Hoosiers in the win column, making a comeback all but impossible.
However, OSU managed to close on a pair of positives. Sophomore Rob Kauscher finally scored another victory for the home team in the second-to-last event. He swam past a pack of Indiana swimmers in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:05.12, the best by any Buckeye this season.
“Rob Kauscher had a good day,” Wadley said. “That was an excellent swim. He was elected captain (Friday) by the team and he ended up winning the 200 breaststroke again against a very good swimmer.”
Rounding out the competition, the quartet of Tommy Seay, Adam Braun, Andy Swonger and Blake Foltz took the 400-yard freestyle relay over Indiana by just a tenth of a second.
OSU will look to rebound at its final home meet of the season with another big conference test when it hosts Michigan State at 4 p.m. Friday.
