Swim & Dive Prepped for Oakland

Swimming and Diving at Oakland
Date	Friday, Feb. 5 \| 5 p.m.
Venue	Rochester Hills, Mich. \| Oakland Aquatic Center
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Results	TBA
Twitter	@EMUSwimDive \| @EMUAthletics

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University swimming and diving team travels to Rochester Hills, Mich. to take on Oakland University Friday, Feb. 5. The matchup will mark the final meet of Eastern's non-conference slate and is set to begin at 5 p.m.
   Results will be available following the meet on EMUEagles.com. Results will also be shared on the team's Twitter account, @EMUSwimDive, as they become available.

SERIES HISTORY: The Eagles are 13-6-1 all-time against the Golden Grizzlies. Eastern is unbeaten in the last seven meetings with Oakland (six wins, one tie), with outright victories in the last four duals. Away from Jones Natatorium, EMU is 5-3-1 against Oakland.

LAST TIME AGAINST OAKLAND: The Golden Grizzlies faced off against two Eagle teams, Nov. 9, at Jones Natatorium. Eastern Michigan hosted Oakland and Florida Gulf Coast last season, with EMU taking the tri-win with 150.5 points. Then-junior Ali Staver led the way for EMU, winning the 200 fly (2:04.41).
   The last time the two sides met for a dual meet was Nov. 10, 2018 in Rochester Hills, Mich., with Eastern coming away with the 190-110 win. EMU posted eight event wins and saw 17 season-best times set, including ones from then-sophomores Meike Staffeldt (50 free, 24.67), Carlee Jones (100 breast, 1:08.40), and Avrie Stewart (100 back, 56.77).

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.

SENIOR DIVING DUO: The senior diving duo of Micaela Schempf and Bethany Berger have won every 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 and both 1-meter and 3-meter at Bowling Green, Jan. 29.
   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. Both will compete at the Zone C Championships, scheduled for March in Lexington, Ky.

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.

WIN EVENTS, GET RECOGNIZED: Following a sweep of the diving events at Bowling Green, Jan. 29, senior Bethany Berger has been named the MAC Diver of the Week, the league announced, Feb. 3. The honor marks the first in Berger's career, and first for the EMU program since the 2018-19 season. Berger was previously named a MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week during the 2019-20 season.

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 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: Eastern will host the EMU Last Chance Meet, Feb. 26-27 at Jones Natatorium. The Eagles are set to welcome the Bowling Green Falcons and Toledo Rockets for the two-day event.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lainie Bell

Bethany Berger

Kelsi Hill

Riley Hofmann

Carlee Jones

Sav Mouat

Abby Rapien

Micaela Schempf

Alyssa Shugarman

Meike Staffeldt

Ali Staver

Avrie Stewart

Keira Veltigian

Kayla Whitehead

Eastern Michigan Athletics