Swim and Dive Wraps Up Regular Season Slate at Ohio State Winter Invitational

Swimming and Diving at Ohio State Winter Invitational
Date	Friday, Feb. 14-Saturday, Feb. 16 \| Prelims: 11 a.m., Finals: 5 p.m.
Venue	Columbus, Ohio \| McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stream	BTN+ (Prelims) \| BTN+ (Finals)
Live Stats	EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMUSwimDive \| @EMUAthletics

COLUMBUS, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University swimming and diving team heads to Columbus, Ohio for its eighth consecutive appearance at the Ohio State Winter Invitational Friday, Feb. 14-16. The three-day meet will take place at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, with event preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. each day, followed by event finals at 5 p.m.
   The Eagles will face opponents from hosts Ohio State University, as well as University of Kentucky, Purdue University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Notre Dame, University of Pittsburgh, University of Akron, and University of Illinois at the three-day competition.
   The meet will be live streamed by BTN+. Livestats for the meet will be available through MeetMobile. Links are available on the schedule page of EMUEagles.com. In addition, the action will be tweeted from the team's twitter account, @EMUSwimDive.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION: Mid-American Conference foe and reigning MAC Champion Akron will compete against Eastern Michigan for the second time this season, after previously defeating the Eagles, 175-125, Jan. 18 in Akron.
   The Eagles will also face opponents from the Big Ten for the first time this season, along with a SEC foe and Centennial Conference member.

LAST SEASON AT THE WINTER INVITATIONAL: For the eighth consecutive season, the Eagles will fly south to Columbus, Ohio to take part in the Ohio State Winter Invitational. Eastern saw 10 new career-best times be set at last year's meet.

LAST TIME OUT: Jan. 24 against Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan came away with a dominating 203.5-96.5 win over its MAC foe. Leading the way for Eastern was senior Amelia Armstrong-Grant, who claimed wins in the 100 yard freestyle (51.99) and 200 yard freestyle (1:52.79), while freshman Hannah White swept the butterfly events with marks of 57.01 in the 100 yard final and season-best 2:06.61 time in the 200 yard event.
   The Eagles also swept breaststroke events for the first time this season, with junior Elli Machado winning the 100 yard race in 1:06.32, while classmate Carlee Jones won the 200 yard event in 2:23.42.

BACKSTROKE'S BACK: Eastern Michigan seniors Casey Gavigan and Claire Young have dominated backstroke events in the last six meets. In the 13 backstroke events over seven meets, the Eagles have won all but one of them. Gavigan has won nine of the 13 events (four 100 yard and five 200 yard), while Young has won the remaining three (two 100 yard and one 200 yard).

GET IN THE ZONE: Four Eastern Michigan divers have met the NCAA Qualifying Standard in 1-meter diving, while three of those four have also qualified in 3-meter diving. Seniors Brielle Johnston and Sophia Tsafantakis, along with junior Bethany Berger, have met the qualifying standard in both events, while junior Micaela Schempf has qualified for the 1-meter event at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships in March.

BREAKING STANDARDS: In addition to leading the MAC with her 16:27.88 mark in the 1,650 yard freestyle, junior Alyssa Shugarman became the first Eagle swimmer to meet a NCAA Standard Cut. The third-fastest time in program history earned the Oswego, Ill. native a NCAA "B" Cut.

OMAHA BOUND: Eastern Michigan senior Casey Gavigan punched her ticket to the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Neb. at the long course time trials hosted by Denison University on Dec. 4, 2019. The East Setauket, N.Y. native clocked in at 1:02.11 in the 100-meter backstroke to qualify for the 2020 trials.

CLOSE CONNECTIONS: Eastern Michigan Head Coach Derek Perkins will see some familiar faces on the deck and in the water, as the first year Eagles head coach spent the past eight seasons at Kentucky, including four as the associate head coach, before coming to Ypsilanti. In addition, Perkins was a student-athlete for the Wildcats from 1998-2002.

EAGLES ON TOP: Eastern Michigan has won six of its last seven meets, including a five-meet win streak beginning Oct. 26. After defeating Miami, 152-148, Ball State 167-133, Nov. 2, Oakland and Florida Gulf Coast with 150.5 points, Nov. 9, capturing the title at the Denison Invitational with 2,223 points, Dec. 7, and defeating I-94 rival Wayne State, 193-49, Jan. 11, the win streak came to end Jan. 18 at Akron, 175-125. The Green and White got themselves back into the win column Jan. 24, defeating Bowling Green, 203.5-96.5.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern Michigan will trek to Buffalo, N.Y. for the Mid-American Conference Championships beginning Wednesday, Feb. 26 at the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena Pool and Natatorium. The four-day meet will crown the next MAC Champion Sat., Feb. 29.

Swim and Dive Wraps Up Regular Season Slate at Ohio State Winter Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Amelia Armstrong-Grant

Bethany Berger

Casey Gavigan

Brielle Johnston

Carlee Jones

Elli Machado

Micaela Schempf

Alyssa Shugarman

Sophia Tsafantakis

Hannah White

Claire Young

Eastern Michigan Athletics