Women's Swimming Second at OAC Championships; Mojock Named OAC Coach of the Year
AKRON, Ohio - Mount Union's women's swimming team finished second and head coach Eric Mojock and his staff won Women's Staff of the Year honors at the 2012 Ohio Athletic Conference Swimming Championships Saturday at The University of Akron.
In the first event of the evening, Mount Union senior Alyson Kolesar (Stow/Stow) completed her sweep of the distance events, rallying past senior three-time defending champion Michelle Eggers of Ohio Northern over the final 400 yards.
Kolesar's school-record winning time of 18:11.04 was 1:01.09 ahead of Eggers' time of 18:12.13 and gave Kolesar the 200, 500 and 1650 free titles at the 2012 championships.
The Purple Raiders placed four swimmers in the top five in the event including junior Katy Alkire (Akron/Firestone), who placed third to earn her third all-conference honor for the weekend.
Mount Union sophomore Courtney Gabel (Fremont/Fremont Ross) won the 100 free in an OAC record :52.87, giving her the 50-100 freestyle sweep on the weekend.
The Raiders wrapped up the meet with a record-setting performance in the 400 free relay, as Gabel, junior Sarah Noble (Copley/Copley), senior Taylor Harrison (New Philadelphia/New Philadelphia) and Kolesar set an OAC record with a finish of 3:35.58. The same four also won the 800 free relay and also set an OAC record yesterday.
Harrison also bested her own Mount Union record and got all-conference honors with a third place finish in the 200 backstroke.
For the weekend, Kolesar and Harrison finished their careers in grand fashion.
With the three individual titles and 400 free and 800 free relay titles, Kolesar earned All-OAC honors seven times over the weekend as she also part of the first place and school-record 200 free relay team with Jocelyn Gaydos (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional), and Carly Brown (Strongsville/Strongsville) and Gabel along with a second place and All-OAC finish in the 200 medley relay with Shelbey Mitchell (Stow/Stow), Gabel and Harrison.
Harrison ended up with five All-OAC honors from the three relays, the 200 backstroke and a second in the 400 IM.
Noble earned an All-OAC selection for the second straight night. She touched second in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:11.16.
Mojock in his fifth season at the helm earned Women's Staff of the Year honors for a second time as he also got the award in 2010 for leading the Raiders to a second place finish.
Mount Union was 83 points behind conference champion Ohio Northern while John Carroll was in third place with 646, Baldwin-Wallace fourth with 380, Wilmington fifth with 277 and Defiance finished with 197.
1,650 Freestyle: 1. Alyson Kolesar (MtU), 18:11.04; 2. Michelle Eggers (ONU), 18:12.13; 3. Katy Alkire (MtU), 18:27.43
200 Backstroke: 1. Julia Adams (JCU), 2:08.83; 2. Emilee Boleyn (Def), 2:10.33; 3. Harrison Taylor (MtU), 2:10.69
100 Freestyle: 1. Courtney Gabel (MtU), 52.87; 2. Karyn Adams (JCU), 54.08; 3. Mackenzie Hoffman (ONU), 54.31
200 Breaststroke: 1. Angela Musille (BW), 2:24.08; 2. Taylor McCabe (ONU), 2:24.80; 3. Kasey Manko (ONU), 2:31.16
200 Butterfly: 1. Lindsey Rayhill (ONU), 2:08.72; 2. Sarah Noble (MtU), 2:11.16; 3. Julie Creech (WC), 2:13.41
1 Meter Dive:1. Julie Pinter (BW), 476.60; 2. Amy Elmer (ONU), 407.55; 3. Danielle Ketterer (JCU), 340.10
400 Freestyle Relay: 1. Mount Union (Courtney Gabel, Sarah Noble, Taylor Harrison, Alyson Kolesar), 3:35.58; 2. John Carroll (Karyn Adams, Tori Watson, Rachael Libertin, Julia Adams), 3:37.13
