12 swimmers from the Ohio State women’s swimming team will head down to Florida Gulf Coast University to take part in the FGCU Classic.
There are plenty of ways to follow the action this weekend. A meet central page is located here with everything you’ll need including a live stream, live results, heat sheets, and much more.
The Buckeyes & the Competition
Ohio State won this event last season to kick off its 2015-16 campaign, and it’ll send six of the 12 swimmers from that group again this year. The list of OSU swimmers competing this weekend is:
o Maria Coy
o Kaitlyn Ferrara
o Molly Washko
o Liz Li
o Chantel Wynn
Bailey, Clary, Ferrara, Li, Vargo, and Zeren all swam in this meet last season.
Other teams competing this weekend include Florida Gulf Coast, LSU, Virginia Tech, Utah, and Rutgers.
Event Schedule
| Day 1 | Day 2 |
| 200 medley relay | 400 medley relay |
| 10 minute break | 10 minute break |
| 400 IM | 100 IM |
| 200 freestyle | 500 freestyle |
| 50 freestyle | 200 breaststroke |
| 20 minute break | 100 backstroke |
| 100 butterfly | 20 minute break |
| 200 backstroke | 100 freestyle |
| 100 breaststroke | 200 butterfly |
| 10 minute break | 200 IM |
| 400 freestyle relay | 10 minute break |
| 200 freestyle relay |
Familiar Face
Molly Kowal is making her Buckeye debut this weekend, the lone freshman traveling with OSU. But she’ll have a familiar face on one of the opposing teams.
Kowal’s twin sister, Grace, swims for Virginia Tech.
The two have swam together since they were three, when they started taking swim lessons. They continued to swim together growing up and would constantly swim against each other in practice, they even wound up swimming in lanes right next to each other for some meets. Both Molly and Grace had excellent prep careers competing for the Jersey Wahoos as well as Nazareth Academy High School.
So when it came time to pick a college to attend, both her and Grace had a decision to make: stay together, or split up and go to two different schools.
“We looked at a few of the same schools, but we each were looking at a few different schools as well,” Kowal said on the college search. “We decided that no matter which school we decided to go to, we wouldn’t let one decision influence the other.”
In the end they decided on two separate paths: Molly came here to Ohio State and Grace became a Hokie.
“We decided to go to separate schools,” Kowal said, “and we figured Ohio State and Virginia Tech never really compete against each other. But our first official meet we’ll be able to swim against each other, it’ll be really exciting.”
Her parents share in the excitement; they’ll be making the trip down to Florida to watch their daughters compete.
While they may be competitors this weekend, their bond is still strong. Both Molly and Grace talk every day and Facetime every night. Molly also recognizes how special it was and how beneficial it was for her to have an athletic peer right next to her every step of the way.
“I think it’s been really motivating because neither of us like to lose to the other,” Kowal said. “In practice if she was beating me I’d really pick it up and I know she’d do the same. In meets when we swam next to each other it really pushed me to do better.”
The Kowal showdown and the rest of this weekend’s swimming will start on Friday at 5:00 ET and will continue on Saturday morning at 10:30 ET.
Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics.