Swim & Dive Set to Host EMU Last Chance Meet

EMU Last Chance Invitational
Date	Friday, Feb. 26 & Saturday, Feb. 27 \| Swimming: 9 a.m. & 5 p.m. - Diving: 1:30 p.m.
Venue	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Jones Natatorium
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Results	MeetMobile \| EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMUSwimDive \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University swimming and diving team will welcome three teams to Jones Natatorium as it hosts the EMU Last Chance meet Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27. Each day will consist of two swimming sessions, each beginning at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., while diving will compete at 1:30 p.m. each day.
   Results will be available on MeetMobile, as well as EMUEagles.com. Results will also be shared on the team's Twitter account, @EMUSwimDive, as they become available.

HOME AT JONES: The Eastern Michigan Last Chance Meet will mark the first home invitational-style meet the Eagles have hosted since the 2017-18 season.
   EMU will welcome Bowling Green, Toledo, and Oakland to Ypsilanti for the two-day event, which is the third home meet for the Eagles this season.

DIVING AT ALUMNI: The Eastern Michigan diving squad competed at the UB Diving Invite, Feb. 19-21. All four competing divers advanced to the final round in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions, while freshman Camryn Hughes was the lone Eagle to compete on platform.
   Senior Bethany Berger came away with the 1-meter title, winning both the preliminary and final rounds with scores of 310.30 and 307.15, and also placed second in both rounds of 3-meter with 292.75 and 329.50 marks. She has now exceeded the NCAA Zone C standard in each of her five 1-meter outings, and last three 3-meter showings.

OUTING IN OAKLAND: Eastern's outing at Oakland, Feb. 5, saw four wins and eight new season or career-best times or marks from the Green and White. On the springboard,
senior Bethany Berger won both diving events (288.75 & 302.93, respectively), while sophomore Keira Veltigian set then-career-bests in 1-meter and 3-meter (286.65, 283.35).
    Seniors Avrie Stewart (2:05.46) and Ali Staver (2:06.76) set new season standards in the 200 backstroke, while classmate Kaitlynd Scanlan finished the 500 free in 5:13.74 to mark a season-best. Senior Abby Rapien swam 1:56.10 in the 200 free, followed by classmates Riley Hofmann and Carlee Jones finishing the 200 IM in 2:08.15 and 2:12.72, respectively, to round out the season-best showings for EMU.

GETTING THOSE DUBS: Seniors Ali Staver and Riley Hofmann claimed their first wins of the 2020-21 season against Bowling Green, Jan. 29. For Hofmann, her career-best swims in both the 200 and 500 freestyle marked her first career wins in those events.
     The pair followed up by notching wins against Oakland, Feb. 5, with Hofmann winning the 200 fly and Staver winning the 100 fly.

SENIOR DIVING DUO: The senior diving duo of Micaela Schempf and Bethany Berger have won all but one diving event so far this season for the Eagles, making themselves reliable point-scorers for the Green and White.
   Schempf won the 1-meter vs. Toledo, Nov. 6, and 3-meter vs. Akron, Nov. 20. Berger won the second 1-meter flight against Toledo, Nov. 6, 1-meter against Akron, Nov. 20, both 1-meter and 3-meter at Bowling Green, Jan. 29, and 1-meter at the UB Diving Invite, Feb. 19.
   The duo have also each met the NCAA Zone C qualifying standards. Berger met the 1-meter standard with a 292.21 against Toledo, Nov. 6, and 3-meter mark at BGSU, Jan. 29. Schempf scored 265.20 in 1-meter at Bowling Green, Jan. 29 to qualify for the Zone meet, scheduled for March 7-9 in Lexington, Ky.

MAKING A SPLASH IN THE MAC: Reigning Mid-American Conference Diver of the Week Bethany Berger kept her title for another seven days, as the league office announced that the senior won Diver of the Week, Feb. 10, after previously being crowned, Feb. 3.
   The Batavia, Ohio native swept the diving events in consecutive meets (at Bowling Green - Jan. 29, at Oakland - Feb. 5), leading to two straight MAC Diver of the Week accolades.

SENIORS SHOW OUT AGAINST FALCONS: A quintet of seniors paved the way for Eastern Michigan, Jan. 29, as it downed Bowling Green, 188.5-179.5, for its first conference win in 2021. Bethany Berger kicked things off, sweeping the diving events and posting her first NCAA Zone C qualifying mark of the season in 3-meter. Riley Hofmann posted career-best performances in the 200 and 500 free to win the pair of events, while Meike Staffeldt won the 100 free. Abby Rapien took the top spot in the 1000 free and Ali Staver won the 200 fly title to round out the individual wins.

JUST KEEP SWIMMING: Eastern wrapped the fall portion of its 2020-21 schedule against Akron, Nov. 20. Despite it resulting in a 204-96 setback, EMU earned two individual wins and had five Eagles post career-best performances. The senior diving duo of Bethany Berger and Micaela Schempf won 1-meter (276.83) and 3-meter diving (244.20), respectively. Also on the springboard, Keira Veltigian had a career-best day in 1-meter with a 255.90 score.
   Elsewhere in the pool, senior Carlee Jones picked up a new personal-best in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:06.29 swim, while senior Abby Rapien recorded a new individual standard in the 1000 free with a time of 10:18.36. Sophomores Kayla Whitehead and Kelsi Hill added new career-bests in the 200 breaststroke with times of 2:24.78 and 2:27.53, respectively. Hill added another personal-best with a 4:41.03 showing in the 400 individual medley to round out the afternoon.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK: In her second meet donning the Green and White, sophomore Lainie Bell cracked the top-10 all-time performance list in the 100 backstroke, ranking seventh with a time of 54.96.
   In the 2019-20 season, Eastern Michigan saw nine entries on the top-10 list be added or improved. Joining the list for the first time was then-freshman Savanna Mouat, who currently sits seventh all-time in the 500 free (4:49.64) and fifth all-time in the 1,650 free (16:35.44). Then-junior Riley Hofmann also found herself on the list for the first time, currently ranking fifth in the 200 fly (2:01.02) and sixth in the 400 IM (4:22.53). Then-junior Ali Staver added her name to the top-10 100 back performances, swimming to fifth (54.89), while also improving her standings in the 100 fly from sixth to third (54.49) and 200 fly from eighth to fourth (2:00.02). Lastly, classmate Alyssa Shugarman posted quicker marks in the 500 free (4:44.51) to move from fifth to second all-time, and in the 1,650 free (16:27.88) to improve to third place from eighth.

ON THE HORIZON: The Eastern Michigan swimming team will head to Athens, Ohio to take on Ohio University, March 6. EMU diving will head to the NCAA Zone C Championships, March 7-9, in Lexington, Ky.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lainie Bell

Bethany Berger

Kelsi Hill

Riley Hofmann

Camryn Hughes

Carlee Jones

Sav Mouat

Abby Rapien

Kaitlynd Scanlan

Micaela Schempf

Alyssa Shugarman

Meike Staffeldt

Ali Staver

Avrie Stewart

Keira Veltigian

Kayla Whitehead

Eastern Michigan Athletics