Season Preview: Women's Swimming and Diving looks to build off OAC Regular Season runner-up finish during 2018-19 campaign
By Blake Moore
ADA — A year removed from a runner-up finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season title race, the Ohio Northern women's swimming and diving program seeks to build off its 2017-18 results with a young, talented roster under first-year head coach Austin Veltman during the upcoming 2018-19 campaign.
Last season, the Polar Bears posted a 5-4-1 dual record, which included a 3-1 mark against Ohio Athletic Conference opposition to finish runner-up in the regular season conference standings. Northern would then conclude their season with a fourth-place effort at the 2018 OAC Championships hosted by the University of Akron.
Veltman, who becomes the fifth swimming and diving coach in school history, and his staff will have 12 returning letter-winners, four previous All-OAC honorees, and one former OAC event champion on this season's roster.
"I have been placed in an extremely fortunate position at Ohio Northern," Veltman said. "I am taking over a strong team that has been well-coached and well-educated with a talented incoming freshman class. A winning culture has already been established at ONU, so our focus is to build upon the culture that exists."
Junior Lauren Halle returns after leading the individual efforts last season at the 2018 OAC Championships, capturing the 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley event titles. She also set two school records in the 200 individual medley with a 2:08.26 and in the 400 individual medley with a 4:35.78 during the season.
Halle enters the new season as a three-time OAC Champion and nine-time All-OAC honoree. She has garnered 142 points at the league championships through two seasons of competition.
The Polar Bear lineup will also feature senior Kierra Watson (Brownsburg, Ind.) and juniors Libby Sartschev (Parma/Normandy) and Kyley Stuart (Ada), who each registered All-OAC accolades last season.
Watson, the team's lone three-time letter-winner, earned conference recognition after finishing among the top-three individuals in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay, and 200 medley relay at last year's conference championships. She enters the season with 10 All-OAC honors, 208.5 career points at the OAC Championships, and two Academic All-OAC awards.
Sartschev was named to the All-Conference teams last season after finishing second in the 3-meter diving competition with 298.80 points, her second successive honor in the discipline. The junior has scored 60 total points at the OAC Championships in her career.
Meanwhile, Stuart would earn conference recognition after helping the 200 medley relay team to a second-place effort last season. She was tabbed to the All-Conference teams as a freshman for the same event and now has 27 championship points in her time at ONU.
Ohio Northern returns two additional multiple-time letter-winners to the roster in juniors Katey Stuart (Ada) and Katelyn Koebel (Port Clinton).
Stuart has registered 40 career points at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships and finished as high as eighth-place in the 200 breaststroke last season.
Koebel collected 30 points in her first two appearances at the league-wide event. She notched career-high ninth-place efforts at the event in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke one year ago.
Other returning letter-winners include sophomores Marisa Barton (Saint Charles, Mo./Duchesne), Kelly Grimes (Cincinnati/Anderson), Kaity Kelly (Fremont/Ross), Abby Leatherwood (Loveland/Milford), Avery Manbeck (Aldie, Va./Champe), and Marissa Taylor (Granite Falls, N.C./South Caldwell).
"I have been extremely happy with the adjustments our upperclassmen have made in this transition period. Adjusting to a new coach requires a leap of faith while learning to trust in the new process, and our returners have done a great job," Veltman discussed regarding his returners. "We have a bottom-heavy team this season with a large group of freshman and sophomores. They have done well to become strong leaders on the team for our underclassmen."
Ten incoming freshmen will round out the Polar Bear lineup this season. Coach Veltman and his staff will look for the first-year student-athletes to develop quickly and contribute to the team's success as the program moves through the upcoming campaign.
"College swimming is very different from high school or club swimming, and it can be a difficult adjustment for freshmen," Veltman said. "Our freshmen have adapted well to a new program and have proven to be extremely coachable as first-year athletes."
The Polar Bears are scheduled to kick off the regular season this Saturday, October 20 at the Kenyon Relays and Denison Diving Meet. They will then round out their opening month schedule with their first home dual against OAC foe Wilmington on October 26 and a trip to John Carroll on October 27.
In November, Northern is scheduled to appear at the Calvin (Mich.) Invitational, host Wittenberg in a dual on Friday, November 16, and compete in the three-day Wooster Invitational.
Following a break for the holiday season, Ohio Northern is scheduled for January duals at Kenyon, Mount Union, and Oberlin. They will also host Baldwin Wallace for the annual Golden Kickboard Meet on January 18 while Case Western Reserve and Hillsdale (Mich.) stop by for Senior Day on January 26.
The season will conclude at the 2019 OAC Championships slated for February 14-16 at the University of Akron.
"We have a packed schedule with a lot of meets," Veltman said. "The NCAA allows for 16 competition dates, and we are using nearly all of them at 15, which can make for busy weekend throughout the season. As long as we do not overtrain, this should be beneficial for our young team to gain some experience.