Jan. 29, 2008

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohio sophomore Chelsey Bower has been named the Mid-American Conference Women's Swimmer of the Week, as announced by the league office Tuesday afternoon.

Bower finished the week with five first place finishes and one second to lead Ohio to a win over Marshall (182-131) and to its first dual-meet victory against rival Miami (186-114) in seven seasons. Against the RedHawks Bower touched first and set season-best times in the 50-yard freestyle (24.00) and 100-yard freestyle (52.59) and swam the opening leg of Ohio's first place 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:33.69).

On Tuesday against Marshall, she posted a personal best with a first place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (59.41) and swam the third leg of Ohio's first place 200-yard medley relay team (1:48.90). The Bethel Park, Pa. native also anchored Ohio's second place 200-yard medley relay team against Miami (1:47.56), and her split was the fastest of the meet (23.67) and her fastest split of the season. The Bobcats (10-1, 5-1) have now won five straight dual meets and finished the season a perfect 7-0 at home.

This weekend Bower and the Bobcats will face Xavier (Friday, Feb. 1, at 4 p.m.) and Ball State (Saturday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m.) on the road in their final dual meets of the season.

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Wes Liles is the swimming and diving contact in the Ohio media relations office. He can be reached via email at liles@ohio.edu.