Akron Zips Past Bowling Green, 158-140

February 07 | Women's Swimming & Diving

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Fueled by an active junior class and dominant diving squad, the Akron swimming and diving team used 27 top-three finishes on the day to zip past the Falcons of Bowling Green, 158-140 in today's season finale at Cooper Pool. With the win, the Zips improve to 6-6 (2-5 MAC) while the Falcons fall to 2-7 (1-6 MAC) on the season.

The diving team proved to be the differential in today's meet as UA divers swept the top-three slots from both boards to provide Akron with 38 points on the day. In the 1-meter stanza, senior Katie Carter claimed first place with a score of 268.40 while freshman Leeanna Hoover dove into second with a career-best 246.84. Sophomore Jayne Malloy rounded out the trio in third with a 228.74 mark. The Zips dove for the same result from the 3-meter board with Carter's score of 323.92 pacing the team. Sophomore Amanda Angeloff dove for a season-best mark of 271.65 to claim second place while Hoover cleaned up in third with 247.05.

Head coach Nittaya Klim notes, "It was a close meet throughout today with momentum shifting back and forth between both teams. I think ultimately, our divers really made the difference and delivered. I'd like to credit their efforts for sweeping from both boards."

In the pool, Bowling Green got the early start claiming the 200-yard medley relay in 1:48.44 barely edging Akron's "A" team into second as Kendall Karchner, Stephanie Zielinski, Emily Bulkowski and Jessica Ickes tapped in at the 1:48.94 mark.

Junior Cathryn Collins swam for the first Akron win on the day finishing the 1000-yard freestyle in a personal-best 10:19.37, an impressive 19 seconds ahead of Bowling Green's Megan Bomicino. Fellow juniors Kylie Bombrys and Madelyn Robinson made the event a class affair with respective third and fourth place finishes swimming in times of 10:44.09 and 10:52.77. Robinson would also pace the Zips, earning a third place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a career-best 2:31.16.

Juniors Melissa Gary and Julia Gregos followed suit, leading the Zips to victory in the 200-yard freestyle taking the top two spots. Gary finished the race in a time of 1:56.12 to take first while Gregos trailed in second with 1:57.50.

Karchner, also a junior won the 100-yard backstroke in 58.62 before notching a second-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a 2:08.96 timestamp.

The junior class dominated today's meet, claiming 15-of-24 individual top-three finishes in the meet as Zielinski swam into second place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.70). Junior Brigid Wolf swam the event for the first time this season notching a fifth-place finish in a career-best time of 1:11.79. Zielinski won the 100-yard freestyle in 53.00 as Ickes tapped in at third in 54.00.

UA freshman Ickes, who finished second in the 100-yard fly with a career-best 59.58, also recorded a personal-best swim in the 50-yard freestyle winning the race in a time of 24.62. Gregos notched a third place finish in the 50 free with a 24.97 timestamp.

A trio of juniors collaborated once more, sweeping the top-three slots in the 500-yard freestyle. Collins won the race in a time of 5:06.85 as Bombrys clinched second in 5:12.25. Gregos rounded out the top-three tapping in at the 5:13.71 mark. Collin's busy day ended with a second place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (2:06.42).

Senior Emily Bulkowski rounded out the 24 top-three individual finishes for Akron tapping in at second in the 400-yard individual medley with a career-best 4:34.92.

Akron's "A" relay won the 400-yard freestyle in 3:30.93, registering a team-best finish as Zielinski, Meg Finnerty, Gregos and Collins were all active on the finish. UA's "B" relay consisting of Karchner, Wolf, Bombrys and Gary swam into third place with a 3:38.50 timestamp.

The Zips are absent from competition until February 25 when they return to Cooper Pool at Bowling Green for the Mid-American Conference Championships.