OXFORD, OH – Toledo remains in seventh place after the third day of the 2016-17 Mid-American Conference Championships on Friday evening in Oxford, OH.
 
"We are safely in seventh place but only 30 points away from sixth-place BGSU and 39 points away from fifth-place Ohio," said Head Coach Jonas Persson. "It will be hard to beat them without divers, but we are going to give it our best shot tomorrow. Today was a fantastic day for our program and we are looking forward to performing even better tomorrow."
 
In Friday's preliminary heats, 15 out of 20 swims for the Rockets were season-best times, and 10 of those were lifetime-best performances. In the evening's final heats, four Rockets out swam their personal-best times they recorded earlier in the morning. At the completion of day three, five Rockets recorded new entries in Toledo's all-time Top 10 performance list.
 
FINAL HEATS
Junior Jessica Avery swam to a third-place finish in the championship heat of the 100 breast, stopping the clock at 1:01.73. Avery qualified for the finals as the third seed with a lifetime-best time of 1:01.71 in the preliminaries.
 
"Words cannot describe how proud we are of Jess for placing third and how good this was for our program," said Persson. "She swam three races today and all were lifetime-best times."
 
Freshman Izzy Jones qualified for the final heat of the 200 free as the eighth seed and touched the wall in seventh place at 1:49.18.
                                                         
"Izzy improved to a seventh-place finish in the 200 free," said Persson. "She was in a tough situation for a freshman but the experience that she has gained will be extremely valuable in the future. I am really proud of her achievements this season."
 
Junior Maggie Hack outswam her previously recorded lifetime-best time in the 200 free that she recorded in the preliminary heat. Hack stopped the clock at 1:50.57. Freshman Bec Welke also out swam her personal-best time that she recorded in the prelims. In the 100 breast, Welke touched in 14^th place with a time of 1:03.80.
 
"Maggie and Bec scored valuable points for us with their lifetime-best finishes. They both did an excellent job tonight," stated Persson.
 
Junior Allie Brinkhoff touched 15^th in the consolation finals of the 400IM with a time of 4:32.40. Brinkhoff qualified for the finals as the 13^th seed with a personal-best time of 4:28.61. Freshman Maureen O'Sullivan placed 11^th in the B-finals of the 100 back with a time of 55.52. She qualified earlier in the day with a lifetime-best time of 55.08 in the prelims, which qualifies for the NCAA B-cut.
 
"I was proud of Allie making the consolation final with a new PR," said Persson. "She finished 15^th and scored some very important points for us. Her hard work is definitely paying off. Maureen also had a fantastic swim with her NCAA B-cut time."
 
In the 100 fly, freshman Duda Sales placed 10^th with a personal-best time of 55.02, junior Kat Streicher touched 13^th at a season-best time of 55.79 and sophomore Bailey Cahill recorded a new lifetime-best time of 55.98 for 16^th place.
 
"I was extremely pleased by having three swimmers make it back to the finals in the 100 fly and score some points for us," added Persson.
 
Toledo's 400 medley relay team placed sixth with a time of 3:43.68, which was just .20 seconds from fourth place Bowling Green. O'Sullivan led off for the Rockets with a time of 55.75. The rest of UT's relay team followed with season-best split times: Avery (1:02.15), Sales (55.42), and Hack (50.36).
 
"This was an exciting race as we almost beat Bowling Green and Buffalo," said Persson. "This race was an exceptional team and relay effort."
 
TOLEDO'S SUCCESSFUL PRELIMINARIES
Nearly all of UT's swimmers continued their personal success in the pool on day three. Below are the Rockets who did not make the finals, however still timed season- or lifetime-bests in the preliminaries.
 
Sophomore Maddie Grubbe recorded a lifetime-best finish of 57.74 in the 100 fly and junior Ciana Heaston finished the 100 breast at a personal-best time of 1:04.31. Junior Brittany Puthoff recorded a season-best finish of 1:05.57 in the 100 breast.
 
Grubbe recorded her second career-best time of the day with a 57.45 in the 100 back, and in the 400 IM prelims, senior Rachael Hester stopped the clock at a season-best time of 4:30.82.
 
Junior Allison Dicke timed a personal-best in the 200 free at 1:53.26, while freshman Corinne Harris finished the 200 free at a season-best time of 1:55.20. Dicke then went on to record a season-best time of 23.90 in a 50 free time trial.
 
NEW ENTRIES INTO TOLEDO'S ALL-TIME TOP-10 LIST
Five Rockets' personal success also translated into new entries into Toledo's all-time record book. Brinkhoff's 400 IM time sits 10^th all-time in program history. Sales' new personal-best time in the 100 fly moved her up from eighth place into fifth place all-time, and Cahill enters the list as seventh-fastest all-time. Avery now ranks fourth all-time at UT in the 100 breast (was sixth), and Welke makes the list at ninth.
 
FINAL DAY OF MACS
The final day of competition begins tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with preliminaries at Miami's Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center. Championship heats of the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay and three-meter diving are slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. Championship and all-conference awards will be presented will be tentatively presented at 9:20 p.m.
 
Saturday's championship heats will be streamed live on ESPN3. Fans can find links to the ESPN3 video on the Toledo swimming & diving schedule page. All results can be found on Meet Mobile.
 
Fans can also follow @SwimDiveToledo on Twitter for live updates from Oxford.
 
Team Scores Through Day Three

1. Akron – 510
2. Miami – 385
3. Eastern Michigan – 383
4. Buffalo – 356.5
5. Ohio – 205
6. Bowling Green - 196
7. Toledo - 166
8. Ball State – 115.5