Akron, Ohio - The Toledo women's swimming and diving team opened up competition at the 2019 Mid-American Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Akron, Ohio today. Day one of the tournament featured the 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay events, as well as time trials for four UT swimmers. The Rockets are currently sitting in eighth place in the team standings with 28 points.
 
The Midnight Blue and Gold started off strong, tasking fifth place in the 200 medley relay with an impressive 1:40.65 thanks to sophomore Kristen Straszacker, juniors Bec Welke and Duda Sales, and sophomore Lisa Eriksson. The time was five seconds faster than their previous season-best, and is half a millisecond away from the UT record (1:40.15, 2009). Toledo beat out Ball State (1:40.69), Miami (1:41.18) and Ohio (1:41.76) and earned 28 points from the race. Akron (1:36.28) won the race and set a new MAC record, with Eastern Michigan (1:38.48), Buffalo (1:39.65) and Bowling Green (1:40.15) trickling behind.
 
The Rockets hit a disappointing rut in the second event. Toledo was set to take seventh over Ball State in the 800 free relay but an early take-off from the anchor resulted in the team being disqualified.
 
"We started off really well," head coach Jonas Persson said. "Kristen had her best time in the backstroke and that was her first time leading off the "A" relay at a championship, and it's her birthday so that was pretty cool. In the 800 free relay the only thing we needed to do was not get DQ'd. That was it, we just needed the points. It was a young relay team that made a mistake but they had some decent swims in there. Jordyn Polderman had a personal-best and Alida Ramden had a season-best time. For Samantha Ekleberry, it was one of her better swims, and Sophie Taylor had a nice swim as well, so it was pretty decent relay."
 
Freshman Lauren Wegener and sophomore Emma Sampson both swam 100 butterfly time trials while sophomore Ally Sperring trialed in the 100 breaststroke and sophomore Gracie Storm took on the 200 freestyle. Wegener finished in 57.05 and Sampson tapped in a 57.69. Both times were personal records for each swimmer, and both will look to repeat their performances on Friday in a pool full of competitors. Sperring touched in at 1:06.27, one second behind her personal best. Storm's time of 1:55.90 shaved 0.2 seconds off her best time and set her up for a healthy performance on Friday as well.


Team Rankings 
1. Akron, University of 80
2. University at Buffalo 64
2. Eastern Michigan University 64
4. Miami University (Ohio) 58
4. Bowling Green State Univ. 58
6. Ball State University 50
7. Ohio University 48
8. University of Toledo 28

Individual Toledo Times 
200 Medley Relay
5. Straszacker, Welke, Sales, Eriksson - 1:40.65 

800 Free Relay
Disqualified: Polderman, Ramden, Ekleberry, Taylor

100 Fly Time Trial
Wegener: 57.05 - PR
Sampson: 57.69 - PR

100 Breast Time Trial
Sperring: 1:06.27

200 Free Time Trial
Storm: 1:55.90 - PR