GAMBIER, Ohio -- Competing at home for the second straight weekend, the Kenyon College women's swimming and diving team welcomed the University of Cincinnati to Gambier. It was the Owls' first dual this season, and Kenyon fell 178.5 to 64.5 to the NCAA Division I Bearcats.
The Owls were held without a first-place finish over 13 events, but Kenyon did secure second in over half of the competitions. Five of Kenyon's seven second-place showings came in individual events, while two were in relay races.
Gabrielle Wei highlighted the Kenyon competitors as the junior notched three runner-up finishes, two as an individual and one on a relay team. Wei swam the second leg of the day's first event, the 200-yard medley relay, and the Owls' quartet of Caleigh Wukitch, Wei, Sydney Buchman, and Sydney Geboy posted a time of 1:44.86, less than a second behind the top team and good for an NCAA 'B' cut.
As an individual, Wei touched second in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke. She clocked in at 2:07.88 in the IM, and her time of 2:18.36 in the breaststroke cleared a 'B' cut by over two seconds.
Sofia Giordano matched Wei with a pair of individual second-place swims. The first-year finished the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:34.43 before clocking a 5:10.32 in the 500 free, clearing third place by a little over a second in the 1,000 and a little under a second in the 500.
Kenyon's only other individual to secure second was Gwen Eisenbeis. The sophomore completed the 50-yard freestyle sprint in 24.05 seconds, missing out on first by 0.05 seconds.
The Owls placed second in the afternoon's final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. With Eisenbeis swimming leadoff, Geboy, Kate Bogan, and Molly Haag rounded out the race to give Kenyon a time of 1:36.09.
On the diving board, Katarina Ilic and Claire Fergusson posted Kenyon's best scores as the duo placed third and fourth, respectively, from both the one- and three-meter heights. Ilic scored 212.05 at one meter and 224.95 at three meters, while Fergusson finished with 183.45 and 219.50 points from the two boards.
After three outings over the season's first week, the Owls have 13 days until their next contest. Kenyon will open its North Coast Athletic Conference campaign with a dual against Ohio Wesleyan University at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 3. Swimming events will occur at OWU while diving will take place at Kenyon.
